Sacramento senior citizen center combats anti-Asian hate with escorted shopping trips

Marie Lum feels safe grocery shopping again.

On a recent rainy Wednesday morning, she’s joined by Julie Zumalt with ACC Senior Services on a trip to Walmart. Lum forget her glasses, so Zumalt reads price tags and expiration dates for her.

The two explore the aisles across the store, looking for a reasonably priced drying rack for Lum’s dishes, frozen meals for dinner, and a long sleeve sweater for the holidays. Zumalt helps Lum grab items on shelves she can’t reach and assists her with her walker. But most importantly, Zumalt makes her feels safer.

“If I was by myself, I would have to look to see who’s behind me, who’s in front of me, who’s coming at me and then try to avoid them,” said Lum, who is Asian. “Especially with the Asian bashing, some of those things are really bad.”

Lum is one of 25 participants with ACC Senior Services’ Senior Escort program. This on-going effort aims to protect seniors within Asian and Pacific Islander communities against potential racist or xenophobic crimes.

About a third of Asians and Pacific Islanders surveyed said they experienced racial abuse, according to a recent poll from AAPI Data and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Anti-Asian hate is especially prevalent in California, with the largest number of incidents occurring within the state, a study from Stop AAPI Hate found.

Currently, ACC has about 45 volunteers who help seniors of all backgrounds run errands or spend time with them. The program offers outings, like the trip Lum and Zumalt went on. These quarterly shopping trips provides transportation for seniors to and from the Delta Shores shopping center to help them pick up groceries without the fear of encountering an uncomfortable situation alone.

Zumalt has volunteered with ACC for more than a year to give back to the community after retiring from a career in social work. Knowing she wanted to help and meet new people, she found the senior escort program online and applied to volunteer.

“Everybody should feel safe in their community,” said Zumalt.

Stop the Hate funding expands senior programs

The safety escort program was born out of a Stop the Hate Grant awarded to ACC Senior Services last year. The program expanded with a second round of Stop the Hate funding from the California Department of Social Services Civil Rights, Accessibility, and Racial Equity Care Office.

ACC Senior Services received more than $300,000 for the program, as well as for services like bystander intervention training, said Jeri Shikuma, a program administrator. The grant also helps support staff, outreach efforts, advertisement and marketing and safety-related materials.

“This kind of funding helps our community to not just develop our services and programs, but to also help us connect with each other and work together across the Pan-Asian community,” Shikuma said.

The mission of Stop the Hate is not only to prevent hate crimes, but also eliminate the possibility of hate incidents and support communities that have been attacked, said Nilda Valmores, the coordinator for grant recipients in the Northern California and San Joaquin Valley region.

“These grassroot groups that we’re assisting, they know how to help. They know who the people are, and they have trust from the community for their work,” Valmores said. “So (with the awarded funding), they can help deliver the messages that are so important to continue for underserved community members to access the help that they need.”

While ACC Senior Services’ program focuses on combating anti-Asian hate, seniors from all backgrounds are welcome.

Margaret Martinez, who is blind, walks with an escort every week, and has for the last two years. She said ACC Senior Services makes a “tremendous difference” in her life.

“It makes me feel more independent,” said Martinez. “It gets me out of my home and I’m still participating in life.”

Martinez said there were a lot of things she took for granted when she had the ability to see, like easily finding her groceries while shopping. But with the help of ACC volunteers, Martinez said it makes her feel good to do things she “was doing as a sighted person.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, social isolation and loneliness has impacted a lot of seniors, Shikuma said. The program not only helps seniors with running errands, but also focuses on improving their mental and physical health, said Remy Tokunaga, program coordinator at ACC Senior Services. Support can be as simple as going on a walk or having somebody to talk to.

“It’s about making them feel safer out in the community,” said Tokunaga. “It’s the little things that make big impacts.”