The Senior Servings Program offered by the Food Bank provides much needed food to seniors living in low-income residential communities on a fixed income.

A resident of West Edison Plaza in West Tulsa, Karen Seabolt has found the program a valuable asset over the past six months, but certainly never more so than during the recent holiday season.

Karen had been working as an independent contractor with the Tulsa World for more than 15 years when she had a stroke at the age of 51. With no significant previous health issues,

Karen went from a healthy, hard-working grandmother to finding her recovery process and subsequent health challenges requiring her to retire from full-time employment.

Karen has worked diligently over the past 10 years to regain her health and now finds that the community spirit at West Edison Plaza has given her the family atmosphere she enjoys. Over the holidays many of the 65-plus residents joined together to celebrate the season with a potluck dinner.  They were thankful for the food that the Food Bank’s Senior Servings program distributes each month it gave them the ability to create holiday dishes so they could share an enjoyable meal together.

“I couldn’t have made the dishes with all the ingredients in them without the help from the Food Bank,” said Karen. “And there are plenty of people here that depend on the Food Bank.” Seniors are provided a sack of 12 non-perishable items pre-selected with senior nutritional needs in mind as well as a selection of breads and produce items.

The Food Bank, with the assistance from an initial start-up grant from AARP Oklahoma, is working to expand the Senior Serving program to more locations in our service area. “We realize many low-income seniors are unable to continue working for a variety of reasons and many who may be eligible for SNAP are unaware they might qualify for these benefits,” said Cindy Cummins, Managing Director of Customer Relations and Capacity. “The Senior Servings program can help provide nutritious food for low-income seniors who may also have limited access to transportation as well.”