LAGUNA HILLS : Seniors Fear Losing Their ‘2nd Home’

On an average day, more than 100 South County senior citizens come to the Laguna Hills Senior Center to eat a hot meal, participate in an organized activity or just visit with friends.

But the center, which is facing hard times after losing one of its major funding sources, will have to shut its doors at the end of May unless directors can find a way to pay the rent.

“Everyone is very upset,” said manager Carol Tappero. “This place is much more than a nutrition site. It’s a place where seniors can come to when they wake up in the morning instead of staring at the four walls at home. This is their home away from home.”

In addition to hot meals, the center also offers classes, activities and some medical and legal services, and delivers about 300 meals a day to homebound senior citizens.

The center pays $6,400 a month in rent, half of which is paid by the Rossmoor Corp., which is planning to build a permanent facility for the center across the street within two years.

But until the new center is completed, officials there must find a way to replace the $4,500 a month that the center had been receiving from Freedom Village Retirement Community in Lake Forest in a five-year agreement that expires next month.

Another problem is that the popular center, which serves hundreds of residents from the nearby retirement community of Leisure World and the new cities of Lake Forest and Laguna Hills, is on unincorporated land.

“Nobody wants to take financial responsibility for this center,” said Marilyn Ditty, executive director of South County Senior Services, which runs 15 senior centers throughout South County. “The cities and communities are sympathetic to our plight, but everyone says it is not in their location.

“This is our largest program because there is such a high concentration of the elderly in that area, and if we go away, then these groups will have to set up their own facilities for their senior citizens,” she said.

Ditty said her organization is looking to city officials, corporations and private citizens to come through with enough money either to help them stay open or find a new location in the immediate area that is less expensive or free.

Leisure World officials said the center’s meal and social programs are crucial to hundreds of their residents because the community does not offer its own meal program.

“Its closure would very severely impact this community,” said Gemma Heffernan, manager of social services. “They deliver a considerable amount of meals to our residents who would be forced to go with more expensive meal delivery programs, which would leave a lot of people hurting.”

A donation of $1.75 is requested for the center’s hot lunches, but no one is turned away if he or she can’t pay, Tappero said.

The seniors themselves have started a grass-roots effort to help pay the rent. They have collected more than $1,000 in donations so far and are planning a major fund-raiser next month.

Still, many patrons of the center are upset that its future is in doubt.

“I don’t think it’s right that we senior citizens should have to beg, steal and borrow to meet our financial obligations each month,” said Lucille Cox, 76. “So many other senior citizen facilities in this county are rent free.”

“The association with the other people is just as important as the food,” Cox added. “It has just saved my life to be able to come here and meet so many good friends.”