HOLIDAY HANDBOOK 2012
Sierra Senior Services is known for pulling off a Herculean task every weekday all year long — delivering hot meals to homebound seniors across a rugged, mountainous region encompassing more than 720 square miles.
Meals on Wheels’ 15 volunteer drivers brave mountain passes and winter roads loaded down with steaming plates of restaurant-quality food, offering seniors vital nutrition and, perhaps just as important, a rare face-to-face meeting with a visitor.
But Sierra Senior Services is more than Meals on Wheels. This 11-year-old organization also delivers holiday gifts to seniors and holds educational classes on nutrition and exercise. The organization has even been known to do a little impromptu stand-up comedy to get seniors smiling.
“We have one gentleman who loves jokes,” said Sarah Deardorff, executive director of the nonprofit. “We are always trying to find jokes he has never heard of. Since he has been receiving [meals] for five years now, it is kind of a challenge.”
That personal touch and vital connection with Sierra Senior Services is a lifeline for the elderly from Floriston to Soda Springs, and Tahoma to the Sierra County line. Meals on Wheels drivers check on the health and well being of the seniors they serve during deliveries, and more than once a driver has called for medical help after discovering a senior injured from a fall or in need of assistance.
“Many of these individuals are isolated. Their family members have moved on. It is very important to them to be independent and self-functioning as long as possible,” said Deardorff.
The holiday season is a busy season for Sierra Senior Services. The nonprofit is gathering holiday gifts for seniors, delivering meals to a list of Meals on Wheels recipients that grows as winter arrives, and fundraising for its operating budget.
“The holidays are a stressful time of year, especially if you have financial problems, or if you are alone during that time of year,” said Deardorff.
Sierra Senior Service steps in with holiday cheer by delivering gifts to seniors. They are practical and often essential gifts like gas cards that make it possible for older citizens to drive to the Senior Center for a nutrition class.
With a growing need among the elderly, and the fluctuating costs of gas and food, Sierra Senior Services is projected to run a deficit, said Deardorff. The organization receives half of its revenue from community donations, 30 percent from government funding, and 20 percent from foundations.
Tax-deductible donations can be made at sierraseniors.org. Three local businesses are helping support Sierra Senior Services this holiday season. Gratitudes in downtown Truckee is offering 20 percent off purchases for customers who donate a gift to the nonprofit. Also, Donner Park Auto Repair and Exhaust at the Donner Park 76 station is giving five percent of gross sales as a gift back to the agency during the holiday season, and the Auto Doctor is hosting a “giving tree” where customers can donate gift cards to seniors.
