Mondays Bloom for the Elderly, Thanks to a Rare Rose

Next time I’m grumbling about Mondays, I hope to remember Rose Carriker.

Every Monday morning she revs up the beige Mercedes-Benz she bought new 26 years ago--still a honey after 175,000 miles--and heads to the Community Services Center in downtown Orange. There she packs front seat and back with paper bags marked “lunch” and “dinner,” each filled with balanced meals prepared by nearby St. Joseph Hospital.

Mercedes loaded, Rose starts off on a maze of side streets, shortcuts she’s perfected along her route as a Meals on Wheels volunteer. She hates being late. Counting on her are elderly men and women in failing health who either can’t cook regularly or go out to eat. Many are younger than she.

Rose Carriker is 83. And she’s been feeding folks from her Mercedes like this for 17 years.

“I’ve been blessed with good health,” she says. “I guess I keep doing it because I can. It could just as easily be me that needs a helping hand.”

Says one 90-year-old woman: “Rose preserves us. Thanks to her we can save what energy we have for other things.”

I spent a recent Monday with Rose on her route, and it was easy to see that she--and others like her in the Meals on Wheels program--provide more than food. She’s a welcome friend to some on a lonely day.

Both Sides Now: Attorney Van Thai Tran has a beef with the Westminster City Council over the upcoming Tet festival (Friday through Feb. 25)celebrating the lunar new year. He represents merchants in the five-block Little Saigon area who are suing the city over street closure during the event.

Tran, on the other hand, is emcee of this weekend’s Tet festival at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana, and Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith and Councilman Tony Lam are on the list he will introduce. So he’ll have to say nice things about these folks he’s suing, right?

Tran chuckles about it. “It’s the new year, we do what we can,” he quips. “Tony and Chuck are good guys; but I still have a legitimate complaint about the street closure.” . . .

Can you picture growing up blind from birth, an orphan, and not even knowing what day you were born? Classical guitarist Dat Nguyen, a Cal State Fullerton junior, says smiling that his birthday is Dec. 31. That’s the arbitrary date some federal bureaucrat gave him when he came here from Vietnam seven years ago, so he says it’s as good as any.

Nguyen, 25 (he thinks), wowed the crowd at the Asian Festival at Westminster Mall last weekend. A reception for backers was also a fund-raiser to buy Nguyen his own classical guitar. . . .

The festival, embracing all Asian cultures, continues at the mall this weekend. Today at 2 p.m. it’s the hot Vietnamese American theatrical troupe Club O’ Noodles with their show “Laughter from the Children of the War.” . . .

Spirit Grabbing: The city of Anaheim says 66% of the average household’s garbage can be recycled. So if your recycle barrel isn’t as full as your other barrel on trash pickup day, you’d better call your City Hall to see what you’re doing wrong. . . .

Women at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Irvine were gently warned on a recent Sunday to take their purses with them to communion. Seems a time or two thieves had helped themselves to handbags left in the pews. No doubt to have something for the collection plate. . . .

A bone marrow donor drive for Rod Carew’s daughter Michelle, stricken with leukemia and in need of a transplant, is 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at Chanteclair Restaurant in Irvine. . . .

One way to keep your fans happy: free tickets. Those who bought mini-season ticket packages last year for Los Angeles Clipper games played at the Pond of Anaheim could renew this year. And if they did not renew, they got a friendly letter asking why not. How friendly? Send back a reply and you get two free tickets to one of this year’s games anyway.

Wrap-Up: The Community Services Center in Orange, where Rose Carriker picks up her meals, is a lively gathering spot for seniors. As a money-maker to keep the center going, its leaders last September introduced Friday night bingo open to most all age groups (minimum age 18).

My wife, Vicky, and I attended recently and enjoyed the scene immensely. Lillian and Jerry Rubright of Tustin, Friday night veterans, generously explained to us all the complicated games (double hard ways, crazy kites, six-card jamborees). We were pleased that the crowded parlor was split into separate rooms for smokers and nonsmokers, connected by closed circuit TV.

Anyone could see we were amateurs. We only had the one “dauber” sold at the door to mark our bingo cards, while most had half a dozen in different bright colors. We didn’t even know they sold pull tabs, which are huge money makers.

But we could see husbands and wives sharing, grandmothers with granddaughters, or good friends finding a way to enjoy each other’s company on a nice evening out--and helping a cash-strapped center stay open.

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Readers may reach Hicks by calling The Times Orange County at (714) 966-7823 or sending a fax to (714) 966-7711.