When A Meal Means Community

“We are dealing with seniors in isolation. We eat alone, watch TV alone; this program gives us togetherness. When we eat together we eat more. When we eat alone we nibble. We don’t want to cook alone. So many of us are isolated.” - Ms. Juanita “Peaches” Patterson

“When people come down we see how caregivers are treating the elders, and that’s very important. It helps neighbors to be treated right. That’s what this program has allowed us to do, elders are ready to come down again. Covid separated us, this program brought us all together again.” - Ms. Joyce Brown

Ladies of Gettysburg Community Dining Site

In each Ward of the District of Columbia, there is a Lead Agency that acts as the front-line partner for senior resources. These agencies operate hotlines for residents to call and learn about resources, provide referrals for case management in DC’s central office, and operate community dining sites from 10 AM - 2 PM.

It is Seabury Resources for Aging’s great honor to operate 11 meal programs around Wards 5 and 6, from Fort Totten to Southwest Waterfront. 

DC is facing a serious senior hunger crisis. According to Capital Area Food Bank, 1 in 3 seniors in DC is experiencing hunger, the third highest rate in the country. Food prices are up 22% from 2020, and while this affects everyone’s pocketbook, the effect is especially harmful to older adults living with limited fixed incomes.

“I feel the program is very important. We have elders eating out of cans, who want hot meals. Having hot meals is a very good thing.” - Ms. Adelaide Ebrom

Seabury serves over 3,000 older adults at our dining sites. That’s over 115,000 meals a year, which members may not be eating otherwise. Some members don’t have enough food period - one member described a neighbor who’s fridge is completely empty. The meal he gets at Seabury is the only meal he’s going to eat all day.

Healthy, nutritious meal at Seabury’s Gettysburg dining site

But some members wouldn’t eat without Seabury because, without the community Seabury facilitates, there’s just no incentive to eat. Loneliness and depression are serious concerns for seniors living alone, especially after the pandemic isolation. That social isolation broke down many of the support systems people had, and without them neighbors have suffered both mentally and physically.

“Seabury has picked me up; I wouldn’t be coming out of my bed. I’m speaking completely honestly, it has helped me with my depression. I have something to get up for now, my hygiene is up.” - Ms. Joyce Brown

In conjunction with DC’s Department of Aging and Community Living, Seabury recently opened a new community dining site at Gettysburg Senior Living in Fort Lincoln. The residents were ecstatic! They had been living in a building with a community room that was closed most of the time, and without regular community activities it was hard to organize enough participants for trips or other social events. 

A sign-up list on the ground floor isn’t enough to build community - it takes regular engagement with your neighbors, shared experiences, common interests and inside jokes.

It means having a real opportunity to build relationships in a safe, supportive space with people who care about you.

“Before Seabury the common room was locked. There are so many new people now, many neighbors passed away. It wasn’t easy to build community without shared activities and shared meals. Now folks I haven’t seen in a long time are coming down. Meals bring more people down.” - Ms. Adelaide Ebrom

“By us being here, and seeing each other every day, it helps us to check in on each other. We call each other if someone is late or doesn’t show up.” - Ms. CT Durbin-Washington

Now with the new dining site at Gettysburg, residents have a chance to reconnect and the community helps them stay engaged in life. Bus trips provide opportunities to get outside the apartment and meet new people, and organized activities across DC like the Brain Games provide members something to be excited about. Says Ms. CT, “We need something to be excited about. And then we talk to our family and are excited, and they get excited because we’re excited.”

Community Dining Sites are antidotes to the twin issues of social isolation and senior hunger. And beyond that, with transportation support it provides members the chance to visit other nonprofit organizations and connect to their resources, as well as grocery stores, restaurants, and even parts of the city they might not have visited in decades. One member described visiting the MLK monument recently, and that being the first time she saw the Mall since she joined the March on Washington in 1963. It was a powerful moment to reconnect with her personal history in the city she had lived in all her life.

“[The bus trips] give us an excuse to get outside of the building and get sunshine. There’s more vitamins in sunshine than in some food! The trip around the city, everyone had memories from around the city. The trips take us places where we can take advantage of other support systems, like Bread for the City or Martha’s Table.” - Ms. Joyce Brown

Community Dining Sites are life changing. But they are only a foundation for the community that members are hungry for and build together. Having a chance to eat together every day and play games brings people together in a way that nothing else does. Members call each other if someone is late, they eye professional caregivers critically, and make sure their neighbors are being treated well. When someone is grieving, lunch provides motivation to leave their apartment and stay connected to their friends, when otherwise it would be all too easy to retreat and stay isolated.

Seabury hosts meal programs at nine Dining Sites and two Wellness Centers throughout Wards 5 & 6. You can see a list of our sites and calendars of activities at https://www.seaburyresources.org/agingservices. 

To see a list of Lead Agencies and learn more about the dining sites in other Wards, visit DACL’s website at https://dacl.dc.gov/service/lead-agencies. 

Seabury provides group transportation for seniors. To reserve a bus for your community, visit our website at https://www.seaburyresources.org/transportation. 

Seabury is grateful for the support of DACL that makes these community dining sites possible.