Serving Seniors
Helping seniors in poverty live healthy and fulfilling lives.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
More than 85% of our clients live below the Federal Poverty Level and struggle to meet basic needs, living on less than $1,000/month and paying $750 in rent, leaving just a few dollars a day to pay for food, medication, transportation and other expenses. 2 out of 5 seniors living in San Diego have to choose between rent or food, every day.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Nutrition
Serving Seniors provides breakfast and lunch to seniors aged 60 or older seven days a week at our Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center, and 5 days a week at additional sites, totaling more than 3,000 meals every day. Serving Seniors also delivers breakfast and lunch to over 600 homebound seniors every day. Designed in partnership with a Registered Dietician, our meals provide one-third of our clients nutrition requirements and accommodate a wide variety of dietary needs including low-sodium and low-fat diets.
Unlike similar programs, we never charge a fee, ensuring that no senior, regardless of income, ever has to go hungry. Each year, we serve over 1,100,000 meals to older adults in need.
Health and Social Services
Serving Seniors team of case managers and health educators assist seniors with: housing stability; financial management; Medicare, MediCal, Social Security and other benefits; referrals to other service organizations, including the Senior Dental Center; health and medication coordination with clients primary care providers; health and nutrition education; fitness, learning and socialization opportunities.
Housing
Serving Seniors owns 529 units of affordable senior housing, in which we also provide meals, social services and socialization opportunities for senior residents.
Serving Seniors also operates a Transitional Housing Program for homeless seniors, which connects homeless seniors with case managers who provide them with access to housing, meals, health services and counseling during a 90-day transitional period. Seniors work with their case manager to create individualized plans with goals for achieving stable housing and successful independent living.
Seniors in the program are assisted in accessing benefits they may be eligible for (Social Security, Medicare, etc.), establishing a savings plan, undergoing a health assessment and addressing medical needs. Additionally, participants are provided with temporary housing for the duration of their program participation, helping ensure their success.
Enrichment and Activities
Enrichment opportunities keep the mind sharp, improve memory, strengthen confidence, and build relationships with people with similar interests. Nothing transforms the aging experience like feeling young and fit, both mentally and physically. Open to all seniors in the community at no or low cost, we offer fun classes that engage and educate:
Fitness opportunities (Yoga, Tai Chi)
Interactive games (chess, Scrabble, Wii)
Health education workshops (hearing screenings, fall prevention, blood pressure clinics, chronic disease management)
Arts and crafts classes (jewelry making, painting, knitting)
General knowledge workshops (travel, trivia, current events)
Social activities (dance classes, birthday parties)
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of homeless participants engaged in housing services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors
Related Program
Housing
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of low-income units in market-rate neighborhood
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors
Related Program
Housing
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of households that obtain/retain permanent housing for at least 6 months
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors
Related Program
Housing
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of homeless participants engaged in mental health services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors
Related Program
Health and Social Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of meals delivered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors
Related Program
Nutrition
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors
Related Program
Nutrition
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total number of clients experiencing homelessness
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of adults engaging in regular physical activity
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors
Related Program
Health and Social Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Serving Seniors' goal is to provide low-income seniors with life sustaining services in a welcoming and supportive environment where they can get the help they need. Nearly 5,000 low-income seniors rely on Serving Seniors every year, and we are proud to provide all our services free of charge.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We assess the specific challenges (transportation, mobility) and needs (accessible, reliable meals and healthcare) of seniors and design programs and services to meet those needs. Our coordinated wellness model addresses many senior issues under one roof, making it easy, convenient and efficient for seniors to access the services they need. Through our collaborative partnerships, Serving Seniors is able to provide nutrition, case management, care coordination, mental health services, lifelong learning opportunities, advocacy, permanent supportive housing for low-income seniors and transitional housing for homeless seniors. This safety net of services encourages seniors to live healthier lives and facilitates successful aging. As a result, seniors stay out of emergency rooms, spend fewer days in hospitals and delay and/or eliminate the need for long-term care.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our Programs Include:
Nutrition: Healthy, satisfying, culturally diverse meals 365 days a year. Nearly 600,000 meals served each year across 9 congregate dining sites and delivered to 500+ homebound seniors. Housing: We own 350 units of affordable, permanent, senior-friendly housing. We also operate a homeless outreach, support and transitional housing program. Health and Supportive Services: We provide Nutrition and health education, free legal assistance regarding Medicare, Medi-Cal and other health care access, support groups, social services, case management and other types of support for clients. Advocacy: We work with local and national elected officials on legislation and issues that affect seniors. Lifelong Learning: We provide more than 750 learning, socialization and fitness opportunities in a single year.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
More than 1,000 seniors are off the streets because of the Transitional Housing Program for Homeless Seniors. This program boasts a 92% success rate. We will continue helping homeless seniors find stability and affordable housing.
Serving Seniors owns 350 units of affordable senior housing, in which we also provide meals, social services and socialization opportunities for senior residents. We have 8 new housing projects in the pipeline.
Serving Seniors provides breakfast and lunch to seniors aged 60 or older seven days a week, 365 days a year, at the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center, and 5 days a week at 8 additional sites. Serving Seniors also delivers breakfast and lunch to more than 500 homebound seniors every day. Each year, we serve nearly 600,000 meals; nearly 240,000 of those meals are delivered to homebound seniors. We ask for a small donation for meals, but no one is ever sent away for being unable to contribute. We want to expand our meal program to include a dinner option, a "bagged meal to go" option, and a salad bar option.
Serving Seniors' Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center reinvents the concept of a senior activity center. Visitors are inspired by the bright, modern design and warm energy throughout the building, which is LEED Certified for its resource efficiency. Seniors visit the Wellness Center for: Meals; exercise classes and groups; health services, education and assistance; educational classes; hobby workshops; ice cream socials and other socialization opportunities; to use (or get help using) a computer.
Serving Seniors' Civic Engagement Group engages and empowers low-income seniors in addressing challenges that impact the senior community. Program participants meet weekly to identify concerns and work together to develop strategies for addressing key issues.
A subgroup of the Civic Engagement Group, the Senior Leadership Development Institute focuses specifically on providing seniors with the knowledge, tools and training they need to be active and engaged community leaders. Seniors attend workshops on public speaking, how to be a compelling advocate, social and political issues and more.
Our dedicated team helps seniors address a variety of challenges: obtaining social security benefits, arranging transportation, scheduling health appointments, making contact with local agencies to resolve problems, and much more.
Serving Seniors' Pet Pals Program helps disadvantaged seniors care for their companion animals by providing pet food and supplies, free of charge. We want to expand this program to offer assistance with emergency veterinary bills.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Serving Seniors
Board of directorsas of 02/15/2024
Ms. Mary Gendron
Qualcomm, retired
Term: 2019 -
Bobby LaCour
Aldrich CPA + Advisors
Joni Low
Community Volunteer
Matt Strauss
Feuerstein, Murphy & Beals, LLP
Jim Sikora
Slalom
Lina Ericsson
Realty Income
Deb Barrett
Community Volunteer
Scott Brown
Brown Development Group
Joy Delman
Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Divya Koura, MD
UCSD Health
Arlene Prater
Best Best & Krieger LLP
Nancy L. Vaughan
Attorney, retired
Kris Virtue
Qualcomm
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/15/2024GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.