Senior Nutrition |
By Lauren Yoshikawa
“Part of belonging to a community means being responsible for those who need a little extra help now and then.”
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Senior Nutrition was introduced on August 1, 1982, by Hitoshi Shimizu. It started out with just 6 volunteers and was shown support by the JACL, which provided equipment and monetary contributions and the Seinan group, which helped the club get up and running. The program is also sponsored by the people coordinated services who is supported by the United Way. Over the years the Senior Nutrition Program has immensely changed and flourished over the years. The club has expanded to about 20 volunteers and serves up to 45 people on average coming to the luncheons. Also |
now that it is government funded, the government provides the food. So the participants can receive a well balanced, healthy meal.
But what is Senior Nutrition exactly? It’s a program where people in their sixties and older can go Monday through Friday for a hot, satisfying lunch in the JVCC conference room. It is an excellent means for seniors to socialize and eat healthier. Senior Nutrition serves approximately two hundred meals a week and the seniors only have to contribute a mere $1.25. It is also very convenient for many members because some participate in line dancing, Tai Chi or yoga classes and after their activities they can just walk over to the conference room for a delicious lunch.
| The club takes part in a lot of fun activities too. Besides its weekly Friday Bingo games there is a monthly birthday party to celebrate anyone who had a birthday in that month. There are also special holiday parties that the seniors can attend and the gymnasium is used for these special occasions. For special occasions such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, entertainers are often asked to perform for the |
Senior Nutrition Program volunteers |
group. In addition to those activities, Senior Nutrition sponsors an annual Christmas Boutique sale the first Saturday of December and the group participates in the Arts& Fair hosted by RAP. And, of course, you cannot forget the trip they take twice a year to Las Vegas.
Senior Nutrition is a success and that success is credited to the twenty volunteers who have faithfully and wholeheartedly volunteered their services and time to the program over the many years. When Senior Nutrition started, its mission was to care for seniors and have them come together in fellowship. The program has prospered, and has definitely accomplished that mission in the past 23 years and is looking forward to continuing for future generations.
Visions for the VJCC
By Gail Sharp
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Cliff Asai is our homegrown 1st V.P. of the VJCC Board of Directors. Along with his wife, Susan, he co-founded the Venice Pioneer Project. Their sons, Scott, Matthew and Kyle have all participated in VYC basketball. Having had the "vision" in 1971 to create a bridge between the generations in the form of the Venice Pioneer Project, Cliff was the prime candidate to answer this question for me: How can the VJCC encourage more involvement by young adults, college aged through mid-20s? "One question that comes to mind when I think about the target age group is, 'Are we ready to embrace or accept their participation?' It is wonderful that the VJCC is open to the target age group. Yet sometimes that means we have to be open to a point of view or priorities much different from ours. |
One suggession that I would offer is to start a mentoring program that would be to connect active VJCC adults into a leadership-training program with this age group. One of the goals of the mentoring program would be to prepare new leaders who would in turn recruit others in their age group to participate. What better spokesperson for the target group than one of their own?"
