Seniors in the Town of Southold will soon have be able to spruce up their diets with fresh fruits and veggies.
At Tuesday’s town board work session, Karen McLaughlin, director of Southold Town Senior Services, said the town and Community Action of Southold Town were joining forces on a new collaboration, “Gert’s Greens,” to help include local produce in Meals on Wheels for homebound seniors, in senior lunch and day care services, to individual seniors, and to CAST clients, with an eye toward improving the nutritional status of the area’s “more vulnerable” residents with access to locally grown produce.
The initiative, funded with a $10,000 grant from the Metabolic Studios of Los Angeles, CA, is meant to feed the hungry, support local farms, and provide a way for neighbors to help neighbors.
The program will honor the memory of Gertrude Lanahan, the homebound meal recipient.
Mcaughlin said she was initially contacted by the granddaughter of a senior, who has since passed, who received Meals on Wheels. Since the town is not a not-for-profit, Southold teamed up with CAST to secure the grant, she said.
Fresh produce can sometimes be “cost prohibitive,” McLaughlin said, but the aim is to also support local famers. “Seniors, especiallly those who are unable to drive, will now have accesss to the North Fork’s agriculture.”
Seniors participating in the program that are transported to and from the town’s senior center will be able to purchase fresh produce as part of their bus trip home. Seniors will be given printed coupons, dubbed “Gert’s Green Bucks” that will be in $10 and $100 denominations. The smaller value coupons will be for individual use, with the higher denomination coupons for larger group purchasing. All coupons will be numbered and initialed prior to distribution to avoid duplication, McLaughlin said. No cash will be given back to customers.
Seniors comprise 32 percent of the town’s total population of 21,968, according to town statistics.
Sarah Benjamin, CAST director, said farmstands participating so far include Harbes, Patty’s, Schmidt’s, and possibly Latham’s and Seps, with choices extending from Mattituck to Orient.
If any funds are left over by the end of the 2014 season, they can be used in 2015, McLauglin said.
“It sounds like a good program,” said Councilwoman Jill Doherty.
The homebound will have their produce delivered, McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said the goal was to also bolster business at local farmstands.
