Meal Program for Seniors Expands

The county has opened a new front in its meals-on-wheels program with plans to serve homebound senior citizens who live in areas around Harbor Boulevard between Oxnard and Ventura.

Eligible seniors must be 60 years or older and homebound with no way to purchase or prepare food.

The Ventura County Senior Nutrition Program has received a $2,500 grant from the United Way and the Blue Cross Foundation to pay a driver. Areas served include the Pierpont neighborhood and Mandalay, Hollywood and Silver Strand beaches.

“We get a lot of requests for meals in that area, but we have never been very successful in finding volunteers who will drive that far,” said Violet Henry, program administrator. “We have never before had funds to pay a driver.”

Henry said the program will deliver hot noontime meals to more than 20 seniors a year in the new areas. But the grant will pay for only half of the new route’s estimated $5,000 annual cost, Henry said, and the program will have to come up with additional grants or donations by July to keep running.

Eligible seniors or residents wanting to request the meals for others should call Norma Henderson at 388-4319.