LA HABRA : TLC Spells Lunch, Love and Friends

For 19 years, Grace Iacuzza’s life has revolved around a program that helps her combat loneliness.

The 84-year-old widow says she’d be miserable without TLC, which stands for Transportation, Lunch and Counseling and operates out of the city’s Assembly Hall.

“If I didn’t come here, I’d be bored,” Iacuzza said, taking a break from an exercise class. “I’d be sick and I wouldn’t know what to do. The little things I do here really keep me going.”

Iacuzza isn’t the only one who feels that way. About 75 other senior citizens gather at the hall every weekday for lunch and camaraderie.

Henry Rodieck, 77, who has attended the program regularly since 1978, said meeting people his age and making friends keeps him feeling young. “It keeps me going,” he said.

TLC, which receives funds from county and federal governments, has served La Habra’s senior citizens since its inception in 1974. It provides lunches followed by bingo games and offers a wide range of activities and services. The food is supplied by the Feedback Foundation of Orange County.

Donated coffee and doughnuts await seniors at 9 a.m. when they start to trickle in. Volunteer nurses, doctors, lawyers, dentists, psychologists, financial advisers, therapists and aerobics and dance instructors donate their services at least once a month.

Local musical groups entertain weekly.

The senior citizens sell their household items and trinkets Mondays at TLC rummage sales, take ceramics classes Tuesdays and celebrate each other’s birthdays one Wednesday a month. Also, low-income senior citizens are provided with a bag full of groceries.

Those who can’t walk or drive catch rides in a county van, which chauffeurs them to and from the Assembly Hall and takes them to the grocery store on occasion.

“This is a place where seniors can come and socialize and not be at home alone,” said Irene Campos, TLC director. “It gives them something to look forward to every day when they get up.”

Harker Whipp, 96, and his wife, Dorothy, 88, have been sharing lunches with TLC friends since 1975. “It gives us pleasure to get out for an hour and a half five days a week,” Dorothy Whipp said. “The friendship and fellowship gives us a good lift.”

Campos said her job is easy.

“Whenever I see someone kind of sad or down, I talk to them and try to find out what’s wrong,” Campos said. “Then I just listen without judging. It just takes so little to help seniors.”

For most of the people who come to Assembly Hall each day, a good listener is all they need to avoid depression and solitude, Campos said.

Sitting at the table where the “rowdy bunch,” as they call themselves, gather, Wesley Pick ate his corn bread, chili and beef.

“I’m all by myself in this world and I’m a lousy cook,” the 75-year-old man said. “So I take advantage of the good food here and the companionship, the laughter, the jokes. Without it, I’d fall apart at the seams.”

Iacuzza added: “We need this place. It does something to us--makes us feel great.”

Maxine Craig, 81, and Edna Gotschall, 69, agree.

The two women met at the Assembly Hall about two years ago and have become best friends. “This brightens your day,” Gotschall said. “It’s like when you walk into your apartment and turn on the radio for company, except you can come here for real company. I hope they never close this place.”