By Ebony Windom, Times Correspondent
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
From left, Lora Staples, Pat Amburgey, Rose Carrigg and Cora Nyvall fix and serve meals at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Zephyrhills on Wednesday.
ZEPHYRHILLS — Marilyn Gidney is a sassy senior who zips around town on her red and black scooter. Meeting her pals for a free lunch through the county's Elderly Nutrition Program used to be the highlight of her day. But when officials closed the Zephyrhills site this summer and encouraged residents to head up to the Dade City dining hall, Gidney largely quit going.
"I can't get there on that," she quipped, pointing to her parked scooter.
Then a few weeks ago, county officials brought the program back to Zephyrhills. St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church opened its double red doors so the 50 or so seniors could have a meal and a chuckle closer to home again.
"It's part of our outreach," said Michael Demeule, a pastoral associate at the church. "As Christians that's what we do, we reach out and try to affect the community in a positive way — in a Christian way."
The church's dining hall would sit empty during the week anyway, he said. So St. Elizabeth's offered to host the group for four hours a day, five days a week for three years at no cost to the county. The deal took more than two months for county officials and church leaders to iron out.
St. Elizabeth's wanted badly to help and it had the diocese grants to back it up, Demeule said. The church wanted to have more of a presence in the community.
"If St. Elizabeth had to close tomorrow, would anybody miss us?" Demeule said.
Up until a few months ago, Zephyrhills seniors got their free meals at First Church of the Nazarene. But that church said it could no longer shoulder the electricity costs for the program, and county officials said they couldn't afford to pick up the tab. The county left the site and encouraged Zephyrhills residents to participate in the Elderly Nutrition program in Dade City.
"We call it 'Dead City,' " said Veronica Griffitts, 83, recalling her long trip through east Pasco for lunch.
The move sent Gidney, 74, into a deep funk, she said. Disabled, she couldn't get to Dade City unless she bummed a ride maybe once a week.
"I got depressed," Gidney said. "I'm a people person and I know what it does to me when I can't get out and be with my people."
Now back with her familiar crew at their new spot, Gidney chatted and scooped up a bite of pasta.
U.S. Navy retiree Jim McElwee, 85, is glad to see the Zephyrhills group return to their home turf. The program is open to anyone age 60 and older. Income is not a factor, but for some, the free meal is vital.
For the bulk of the summer, McElwee just skipped lunch altogether.
"The only problem is I live alone and I don't cook," he said. "So if my microwave or my can opener breaks, I'm dead. I can't eat. I like this because I know the food is probably nutritionally right for me."
Gidney has no problem cruising eight blocks from her home on her red scooter over to St. Elizabeth's.
"It's an open invitation," said Demeule.
Ebony Windom can be reached at ebony.windom@yahoo.com.