Many seniors look forward to the annual event
Published in the April 2-15, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Superintendent of Schools Steve Betando serves up a plate at the senior lunch along with Sandy de la Cuesta.
For 32 years, members of the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill have shown appreciation for the senior citizens in our community by giving them a special lunch around St. Patrick’s Day. At this year’s feast, held at the Buddhist Center March 8, more than 200 seniors enjoyed live musical entertainment as they dined on vegetable bruschetta, butternut squash soup, chicken nicoise salad, wine from Guglielmo Winery and strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Morgan Hill resident Murv Little said he and his wife Judy enjoy both the food and the fun social atmosphere of the annual Harvey Barrett Senior Dinner. “We come here quite often,” Little said. “This event is really wonderful because it brings people together who haven’t seen each other for a long time.”
The Littles sat next to Morgan Hill resident Bob Millar, who was president of the local Rotary club in 1969 and remembers that when the lunch first started, it was limited to about 20 people. “It’s a great lunch,” he said. “It’s a great gathering and elderly get together and share a meal. It’s very nice.”
Rotary Club of Morgan Hill member Davlyn Quick said she has been helping out with the popular event for 10 years. “It’s so amazing. Everyone is so happy and there are smiles on all the senior’s faces,” she said. “People come in at 10 a.m. It’s really fun. It’s really enjoyable. They’re so sweet. We have repeat people who come year after year. It’s so much fun to take care of these people.”
On the Buddhist Center’s auditorium stage, the seniors enjoyed musical acts including a tame “burlesque show” and Rotarians Janet Thompson and Mike Withrow playing a musical duet together.
Rotary Club President Brad Ledwith said that the lunch has become a favorite tradition for not just the seniors but the Rotarians as well. Several of the seniors at this spring’s lunch told Ledwith they look forward to this event all year, he said.
“The history behind this event is that we wanted the seniors to have a place to go during the winter time,” he said. “Obviously, it’s evolved into something much more than that. It’s evolved into a great day for the seniors to have a fun time, mingle, have a great meal, have some time, get a chance to get out and see their friends, talk to other people.”
The Rotary also brings in local school students to help serve lunch and dessert to the seniors, helping the young people to develop community involvement, Ledwith said. “The idea is that we want to support the whole community,” he said. “So you have both ends, the youth and the seniors. Ultimately it’s about being well rounded as a club.”
Among the young people who were involved at this year’s lunch was Joshua Toch, a senior at Live Oak High School. He took a moment from his job pouring drinking water to comment why he enjoys helping out at the senior lunch.
“I’ve been doing this for 10 years and it’s so great to see all these people in our community,” Toch said. “It makes me smile seeing all of them smile. It’s a really fun time. I pretty much do everything in the service department.”
Rotarian Brian Jackson, the organizer of this year’s lunch, said the event started as a project 32 years ago by then-President Harvey Barrett to show seniors appreciation for all they’ve done in building the quality of life in Morgan Hill. Rosy Bergin, co-owner of Rosy’s at the Beach Seafood Restaurant in downtown Morgan Hill, ran a dedicated crew of Rotarians in the kitchen this year in preparing the noon-time meal, he said.
“The great thing about running this is that we have a lot of great committee chairs heading up things,” Jackson said.
This year, the Rotarians made a push to get home-bound seniors to the lunch by shuttling them to the Buddhist Center in vans operated by Jackson’s Home Instead Senior Care business from Hillview Convalescent Home and Pacific Coast Manner. “We made an effort to get the seniors who wouldn’t get out into the community, so you’ll see more walkers and wheelchairs and people who are not usually able to get out,” Jackson said. “The thing about the seniors is that most of them know each other from many years ago so you see them come together, especially the old-time Morgan Hill people who have been here for a number of years.”
