By Mary, client of our Senior Lunch Program
As a senior citizen, I participate with friends at the San Francisco Downtown Senior Center. Together, we enjoy activities, classes, and hot lunches.
Our lunches are lovingly prepared by the Project Open Hand staff and volunteers. Every day, every week, POH cooks and delivers hot, nutritious lunches to 19 senior centers in San Francisco, some of which also serve people with disabilities.
The hot lunches are a gift beyond measure, especially for seniors, living on a retirement budget. We rely on POH’s hot, nourishing meals to help us stay healthy.
On Thanksgiving, POH gave us a delicious feast – fruit juice, turkey, cranberry sauce, dressing, mashed potatoes (with the skin kept on, so healthy), gravy, seasoned peas, rolls with butter, and pumpkin pie. In addition, as with all lunches, we were each given an eight-ounce carton of milk, and a choice of coffee or tea.
This magnificent meal was the only Thanksgiving celebration for most of the seniors at the Downtown Senior Center. Many live alone. Many have no family in the area.
The Thanksgiving feast is just one example of the generosity of POH. Besides sharing a beautiful holiday lunch, the seniors at the Senior Center also shared companionship, friendship, and camaraderie. For the seniors, the friendship is as important as the lunch. For, at all ages, we need human love for our heart as much as we need food for our body.
At Thanksgiving, and every day, POH is always true to its motto – Meals with Love.
We’re serving meals to seniors on Christmas and New Year’s Day, too. Learn more by visiting our Senior Lunch Program web page.