Over the years, the Holbrook Senior Center located on Joy Nevin Avenue has made it their priority to take care of the local senior citizen population in Holbrook. Center Director Carla Gabaldon explained why the fundraising they do is so important and how it contributes to the quality of care they are able to give the seniors of Holbrook.
She stated that the center provides meals to not only residents of the extended care facility but also outside patrons aged 60 and over. Although the center once again partnered with Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG) in 2019 to assist with the funding of a portion of the meal program, funds are still needed for the remainder of the costs and transportation of meals.
Because the center encourages seniors living in the community to dine at the center with them for the social aspect among other reasons, they need to cover the remainder of the costs.
Those who take advantage of the reasonably priced meals are local seniors and their family members. Gabaldon said that local seniors join the residents for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Although they do suggest a $3 donation for seniors and a $5 donation for anyone under 60, Gabaldon says it is not their practice to turn anyone away. “Most of them are on fixed incomes, if they have a dollar and they want to donate that, we don’t say no,” reiterating that it works the opposite way as well, “and if they want to donate more, we’ll accept that too,” laughed Gabaldon.
Gabaldon said that hot meals can be delivered as well through their Meals on Wheels program. Gabaldon said some family members or friends even make the gesture of paying for the service for a loved one who may not be able to afford it or make it to the center. “We cook those at the center, it’s a hot meal, they receive it hot. They can eat it right out of the container and we don’t charge a lot, it’s six bucks a meal.” said Gabaldon.
Though Gabaldon said the assistance helps, they do year-round fund raisers every quarter to provide extra funding so that both their food and transportation programs stay sufficiently funded to continue providing quality care for a quality life of the senior citizens of Holbrook. “We provide transportation to seniors locally to things like their doctor appointments, to do their shopping, the hairdresser, running their errands, their banking, things like that. It kind of goes to both programs,” said Gabaldon.
Although the date has not been set for their next fundraiser raffle, Gabaldon said that she and the rest of the board members at the senior center are accepting donations for their upcoming raffle and more information will be announced as the details become available. Currently, they have items such as turquoise and beaded jewelry, candles and DVDs. Because they do the fundraisers year-round, Gabaldon said anything that doesn’t get used for the current one will always roll over to the next. “We go year-round, funding we can use anytime.”
Anyone seeking information on the programs or wanting to donate to the efforts of the board can contact the center at (928) 241-6044.
