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Caring for Our Seniors
baltimore eats - February, 2009
by John Shields
When we ponder the concept of Our Common Table we can envision a long wooden table filled with family and friends, evenings of conviviality and bountiful food.
Many of us work in our communities to invigorate the local food economy. We encourage new farms to begin operation and we help to support their efforts by shopping at our local farmers' markets or signing up for CSA's. We all feel a sense of pride and gratification when we buy local.
Others of us work to animate school yard gardens, giving children an opportunity to see the miracle of growing food from the inception when the tiny seeds are planted in the ground, to the crops' maturity and harvest.
Other of us devote time to volunteer at food banks or soup kitchens that feed the hungry, homeless, unemployed and underemployed.
There are a myriad of ways we can experience satisfaction and extend the nourishment of Our Common Table. We approach the Common Table through our families, our friends, our children, and by helping the homeless whose numbers grow daily. Helping children and the homeless, supporting new farmers to get a start... these are all noble causes and all are extremely important. The new farmers give us hope, the children are our future, and the poor and marginalized need to be lifted from poverty and economic hardship.
One segment of the population that appears to be somewhat neglected though, is our elderly citizens. For some reason, when it comes to the senior community we are not so easily drawn. Perhaps it's an uncomfortable reminder of our own mortality? It's painful to consider that we will all become senior citizens someday...
I'm not sure if many of us are aware of the number of senior/nursing residences in Baltimore and in all the counties around the state.
My own experience, spending many hours visiting and getting to know the folks who populate senior housing, has set me to thinking. Many of the people I've met live right on the edge. A sizeable portion have already fallen right through the cracks of society, without any "safety net" or family to turn to. Given the current economic climate they can look for little assistance from the government or from most non-profits.
One place that I am intimately familiar with is Virginia Towers, in Towson. Most of the residents living there are low income, many have health problems, some are severely disabled -and most just try to get by on a day-to-day basis.
For a number of years folks residing at Virginia Towers had a program where one meal a day was served on the top floor of the building. That program was discontinued due to lack of funding and to a certain dissatisfaction on the part of the residents over the quality of the food dished out. From what I understand, hospital food is five-star fare in comparison to the former cuisine served at Virginia Towers!
I have been thinking about how to revive the meal program at Virginia Towers. I own a restaurant and I can imagine that we might be able to provide food for one meal a week. Possibly other food operations could do the same, bringing a healthy meal to the residents on a regular basis.
Not only would they be enjoy nourishing, wholesome and good-tasting food, but -just as important, the community meal is perhaps the only time when residents venture from their rooms, socialize and interact with one another -a vitally important component of Our Common Table.
Obviously such an endeavor would require quite a number of volunteers to help to prepare, transport, serve, and coordinate etc. I'm not sure if this idea would even fly, but I'd like to further explore it and see if it is even feasible.
Virginia Towers is just one small example. There are countless other resident buildings all around our community that need the very same service. We need only look around...
It's just an idea, but I know it would be a positive way to bring into action the philosophy of Our Common Table:
A place where all may be fed.
John@JohnShields.com
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