January 06, 2006

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Palo Alto Online

A breakfast for body and soul

by Cyrus Hedayati

Every Thursday morning, the normally placid East Palo Alto Senior Center comes alive as seniors -- from as far away as Sunnyvale and as close as around the corner -- drop by to share stories and a hot meal as part of the center's breakfast program. The promise of friendly company and tasty, affordable food has turned the weekly breakfast into an anticipated neighborhood event.

"What I find is that people like to eat," Program Director Milly Grant said. "And if you have the right food, people will come from all over. I give them a home-cooked meal, like I make it for myself."

The full-course Thursday breakfast includes pancakes, bacon, eggs, grits, coffee, tea, milk, donuts, fruit and sometimes chicken, all for a $2 donation. Recently, the center even served catfish. Grant said her clients call her center's breakfast the best -- and most reasonably priced -- in the area.

"You can't get that at McDonalds," said Leuise Earls, who attends the center and helps coordinate the breakfast. "And the price is right."

For the past year, the breakfast has been subsidized through a $5,000 grant from the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund.

For seniors like Ola Augmon, the Thursday breakfast provides much-needed relief from the day-to-day grind. A former production manager at the Hewlett Packard Company facility on Page Mill Road, she injured her back after slipping on a circuit board and landing hard on the pavement. Nearly 20 years and two back surgeries later, she remains mobile and self-sufficient, thanks largely to the center's helping hand.

Augmon's doctor sent her to the center to adjust to a slower-paced life due to her injury, and services like the breakfast program allow her to conserve her energy.

"It's nice because I have trouble getting around," she said. "On Thursdays, I don't have to worry about cooking, I just have to worry about getting here."

Augmon also enjoys the sense of community at the Thursday breakfast, which sometimes takes in as many as 60 people, according to Grant.

"There's a lot of talking, seeing people you know," Grant said. "This is a fun place on Thursday morning."

Many of the seniors, like Augmon, make the trip for the convenience of a prepared breakfast. As they age, the neighborhood's elderly have fewer reasons to get out of the house.

"A lot of us don't like to cook," she said. "It's nice to have a breakfast that we don't have to cook ourselves. It's amazing; you see people at breakfast who normally wouldn't even eat breakfast."

The center also provides transportation for 50 cents a day to seniors who cannot drive. Senior Dorothy Lewis remembers bringing her mother to the center and how it provided an outlet to connect with others. Although she can only visit occasionally now, Lewis said her mother still keeps in touch with her friends from the senior center.

"For her, every day here was like a vacation," she said.

Although only the Thursday breakfast has the full-course meal, Grant and her staff make sure to provide hot food every day, whether it's toasted bread, bagels, or soup.

"Our center, even though it is small and it is here in East Palo Alto, we care about our seniors and we take good care of them," she said.

The breakfast recently moved to the center cafeteria from the gym next door, a move that has helped promote the center's other services. These additional programs include the brown-bag meals, which provide pre-made meals at a low cost, as well as arts and crafts, and computer education.

"It allows us to show off the center and let everyone know what we're doing here," Lewis said.

The East Palo Alto Senior Center breakfast program is one of 36 local nonprofit agencies supported by the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund. This year's fund drive extends until mid-January.

Editorial Intern Cyrus Hedayati can be reached at chedayati@paweekly.com.

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