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Second chance for nutrition program
By: Katie Worth
Examiner Staff Writer
08/04/09 10:54 AM PDT
When The Examiner heard the senior lunch program in Noe Valley was a victim of this year’s budget mess, a couple of phone calls seemed warranted.
First we called Julie Wasem, director of Project Open Hand, the nonprofit organization that provides meals to seniors in neighborhoods across San Francisco. Sure enough, she said, city funding for the long-standing program in Noe Valley had been axed -- along with funding for meals at three other senior centers in the Bayview, Visitation Valley and the Marina, programs that serve scores of seniors and ask for just an optional $2 donation per meal.
Wasem was holding out hope that The City would come around and reinstate the program’s funding. Since July 1 she had been funding the program with private donations, but that funding was going to run out sooner or later, she said.
So we called Shireen McSpadden, deputy director of Aging and Adult Services, to ask about the funding cuts. McSpadden said everything was still in flux and recommended we hold off on the story until the decision was made. We said we probably couldn’t wait; she said she’d get back to us.
An hour later, McSpadden called to say that Noe Valley funding had been fully reinstated. We called Wasem with the good news. She was ecstatic, but wondered what would happen to the other lunch programs that had been slated to be cut.
Another couple of inquiries later, and Aging and Adult Services had decided not to cut any of its senior nutrition programs and would try to make the cuts elsewhere. McSpadden said the decision was in the pipes anyway but that our call prompted a confirmation sooner than had been planned.
Wasem was in shock at the happy ending.
“This is amazing!” she said gleefully, before joking: “If you have time, I have a list of other people for you to call, too.”
We told her we we’ll be sure to get right on that, right after we get our cape back from the drycleaners.
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