Tarnished Golden Years for Some

Thanks to everyone who participated in St. Anthony’s Senior Protein Drive!  Our Social Work Center Pantry, which helps seniors augment their diets to ensure healthy nutrition, received approximately 9,000 ounces of protein items:  peanut butter, tuna, chicken, and much more.  This generosity will provide the daily required protein intake for 1,285 days.  Your support means a senior in our community is healthier today.

For seniors, enough food, and health-sustaining food, is especially important, particularly when they are vulnerable to disease, or when life circumstances – such as limited mobility– make obtaining a healthy diet more difficult. Food insecure elderly persons have been found to be 2.33 times more likely to report fair or poor health status. Food insecurity among elders increases disability, decreases resistance to infection, and extends hospital stays.  Many medications also must be taken with food to assure their effectiveness. Too many seniors skip meals in order to purchase medication, only to see the “Take with food” label on the prescription bottle.

Twenty percent of San Franciscan seniors experience food insecurity, tarnishing their golden years with the stress and anxiety of trying to make ends meet.

Consider making your voice heard and ensure that our elders are cared for: sign our petition here.