Aging in Our Community
A Message from W. Mark Clark, President and CEO
and what are called Congregate Lunch programs, which we refer to as our Community Lunch program, offered by the City of Tucson, Catholic Community Services, Posada Life Community Services, Sahuaro Christian Church and Pima County are some of the most significant services PCOA funds. And I would be remiss if I didn’t note that the Community Food Bank’s Caridad Kitchen prepares the vast majority of these meals. There is so much support in the community for these vital programs, not just from our governmental sources but also from various generous donors as well. In 2019, these two major programs served more than 215,000 meals. Last year, that number peaked at more than 425,000 meals. Unfortunately, the ending of some of COVID19 funding has meant that we have reduced our pandemic expansion, but we have worked to make assistance available to those who still need it. We are so grateful to all our funders, partners, and supporters because healthy nutrition truly is key to healthy aging. And without all of us working together there would be so many more hungry and unhealthy older adults. In gratitude,
Healthy Nutrition is as Important a Part of Your Health as Taking Your Medications or Exercising At PCOA we talk (and think and write) a lot about healthy aging. And we have lots of classes and workshops. The schedules for which can be found on pages 17 & 18. Heck, we even have the Katie Dusenberry Healthy Aging Center and the thekatie. org. But this month’s focus is on nutrition. Many of us are privileged to have access to healthy foods, whether because of our means or maybe as a result of where we live. But others of us may not. We may live in what is now called a “Food Desert”, somewhere without accessible markets selling healthy food like fresh fruits and vegetables and quality sources of protein. Just before the pandemic, I recall we were contacted by an elected official about a constituent who had reached out to their office because she lived in a very rural part of Pima County and had become unable to shop for herself due to a health condition. In learning more about her situation she shared the place she had been shopping was a gas station market at county crossroads several miles (of dirt roads) away from where she lived. Most of the food available there was relatively expensive prepared food with almost no fresh fruits or vegetables, but she was happy with it. And she knew the people that worked there. She didn’t think she lived in a food desert, but she did. And she was miles away from one of PCOA’s community lunch program locations or our home delivered routes.
My very committed and smart colleagues spent a good bit of time talking with this woman, getting to know her and what she thought would be the best option for her. We talked with her about whether there might be a neighbor who could drive her to the store. We discussed distant grocery store delivery services. We even explored finding a staff person who lived in her direction who might be able to shop for her every couple of weeks. As I recall we did do one of those grocery drop offs as we worked on a more sustainable plan. Ultimately, we were able to work with a national meal delivery service which has the transportation resources to get nutritious meals pretty much anywhere. It was an option which she thought would work for her, and it did. We got healthy prepared meals to her until she was able to get back to shopping for herself. So, as I noted above, more people than any of us would like to live in those food desert areas. And not just people in rural areas. Over the last few decades, much work has been undertaken to ensure that people of all ages and abilities have access to quality healthy nutrition, but there is more work to be done. Back when the Older Americans Act became law in 1965, healthy nutrition was high of the list of services which needed to be supported, long before our health aging classes and workshops were on the map. Homes delivered meals programs, like PCOA’s Pima Meals on Wheels program, operated by our funded partners Catholic Community Services and Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest;
W.Mark Clark President & CEO
March 2023, Never Too Late | Page 3
Pima Council on Aging
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