BROWN BAG MEALS PROGRAM FOR SENIORS MAY END SOON.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

Regional food bank shelves that were filled with holiday meals just last week are empty again - and providers predict tough times in 2003 as the state likely will slash food programs and corporate donations slip further.

The first to be visibly affected, providers said, could be the few thousand poor and elderly residents of Los Angeles and Ventura counties who depend on a state-subsidized Brown Bag nutritional program.

A proposal by Gov. Gray Davis to cut funding to the 20-year-old program in April could effectively shut it down.

``I couldn't eat as well without it,'' said Vera Lind, 82, a former hairdresser who relies on Brown Bag volunteers to deliver groceries to her tidy mobile home in Newbury Park.

They deliver ham and fresh produce - food that Lind and other seniors who live alone on fixed incomes might not otherwise buy.

The proposed cuts are part of Davis' remedy for the state's $34.8 billion budget shortfall - California's largest deficit ever. He also may reduce by $193,000 a senior nutrition program in the Los Angeles-Ventura County region.

State Department of Aging officials who oversee the programs, along with a spokesman for the governor, say it's a painful but necessary step over the long run.

The Brown Bag program, which statewide serves an estimated 41,840 seniors who earn less than $1,016 a month, could be halted altogether. Some regions, among them Ventura County, would attempt to keep it running - though on a smaller scale. Applicants like Lind could be declined.

``It's just not wise,'' warned Jim Mingis, executive director of FoodShare Inc., Ventura County's largest regional food bank, which oversees the program. ``It affects so many lives.''

Providers argue that seniors like Lind are saving the state medical expenses by keeping heathy through good nutrition. Moreover, they say, for every dollar the state spends on Brown Bag meals, the program delivers $35 worth of food and services.

The proposed cutbacks come at a time when food banks are already bracing for an economic slowdown and a wave of welfare recipients whose benefits are expected to expire. The timing couldn't be worse, providers say. ``Our demand is already up 20 percent in 2002 and looking ahead to 2003, the huge demand is not going to be decreasing,'' said Michael Flood executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which annually distributes 45 million pounds of food to the needy but does not participate in the Brown Bag program.

``What will end up happening is seniors will still need assistance. They will be looking for additional food. It's going to put pressure on us,'' he said.

``The only option is to continue to try and bring in as much food as we can or an increasing amount of food. It's tough,'' Flood said, adding that everyone at the food bank is already working 10-hour days.

In Ventura County about 234 volunteers - some senior recipients of the program - pack and deliver, once a week, bags of rice, beans, beef stew and other goods to more than 2,000 seniors in their homes, churches and community rooms.

``We are scraping every resource we can find to maintain the program,'' Mingis said. But providing a weekly bag of groceries for the legions of needy seniors seems impossible given the anticipated drop in donations, as well as next year's possible economic slump.

If funding is lost, the Brown Bag program would be scaled back to monthly deliveries from other funding sources the organization relies on.

Lind would find the change difficult to absorb. Earlier this year, she dropped Meals-on-Wheels service after the $40 a month she paid for deliveries became too expensive. She's loath to ask her daughter for help.

``I have nothing but my Social Security check,'' Lind said.

That $788 barely covers rent, doctor bills and insurance, much less food, she said from her home across from an upscale French restaurant where dinner can run $20 a plate - far out of Lind's price range.

Many seniors are simply too proud or embarrassed to admit they need help, said Sharon Eghigian, executive director of the California Association of Food Banks. For them, the Brown Bag program that operates out of more than 600 sites statewide, offered a level of comfort. It required little of the intimidating paperwork other social services often demand. It also offers the elderly, who often eat poorly, some food alternatives.

Now, Eghigian said, many receiving help may be left with a difficult decision.

``If they want to continue paying rent and provide food, there are going to be some tough choices to make.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) From left, FoodShare Inc. volunteers in Oxnard - Peggy Bryan, Gen Garofalo and Marilyn Juday - sort through pastries.

(2) FoodShare Inc. volunteer Gen Garofalo prepares a bin of buns for distribution from the regional food bank facility in Oxnard.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News