The line of cars snaked along the fence by the entrance to the San Moritz Lodge. Volunteers directed the traffic to loop to the left and then through the parking lot.

Folks on Facebook wondered what was going on at the Crestline location.
When the safer at home order and restrictions against gatherings were imposed, the Crest Forest Senior Citizens’ Club was no longer able to put on its Tuesday senior nutrition programs. What to do?

President Penny Shubnell and her board of directors have devised a plan that is working flawlessly. Folks come in their cars – some arriving an hour before the noon start of food distribution – and line up to be handed a bag with their three-course meals. The distribution is now taking place three days a week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays – from noon to 1 p.m. or whenever the food runs out.

The food is being prepared by Tina Fox of Fox in the Woods Catering, as it was when the meals were held inside the lodge. On a recent Thursday, the meal included salad, chicken and pasta in a pesto sauce with mushrooms, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes, an apple tart and a carton of milk.

Not only was the meal delicious, but plentiful. We enjoyed our entrée for a second lunch.

All the volunteers, Shubnell noted, are members of the senior citizens’ club board of directors. As cars approach the table where Shubnell checks in the recipients, Marci Collar collects any donations being offered out the driver’s window. Then Jean Allen hands the appropriate number of bags to the driver.

While the congregate meals had served about 100 diners on Tuesdays – and a lesser number on the Thursday luncheons that were held twice monthly – Shubnell said they are now serving more than 500 meals a week.

“The numbers skyrocketed,” she said. “I hope these people will continue when we can gather again.

“This is a great opportunity to feed a lot of seniors,” Shubnell added.

At first, she noted, she was scared for word of the grab-and-go meals to get out. “I was afraid of being overwhelmed,” she said. “But there was no need for that fear. Everything worked out smoothly. And it just kept going and going,” adding she is very pleased with the logistics.

The Department of Aging, Shubnell said, “has been very gracious in helping us out. We anticipate additional funding from the state. They have encouraged us to pass out more meals – they want to make sure our seniors get fed.”

Commenting on the portion size, Shubnell acknowledged that many
seniors make a couple of meals out of what they receive.

When they are able to gather inside the lodge, Shubnell said what they put on is “a nice congregate meal with music and speakers. If it didn’t run this way, we’d be nothing more than a soup kitchen. We don’t want that. We want the sense of community.”

In this labor of love, Shubnell said, “everyone feels the same. We don’t
label anyone.”