Philadelphia Corporation for Aging supports senior meal program at KleinLife in Northeast Philly
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Inna Gulko usually has a full house for lunch at KleinLife in Northeast Philadelphia.
Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
"We have people from all different cultures coming here every day," says Gulko, Director of Support Services for KleinLife.
Lunches are served there Monday through Friday. The Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, or PCA, has been vital to their lunch program.
"They subsidize our congregate meals fully," says Gulko.
She says this is a big help to local seniors since "they don't have to pay anything."
Poppy Karros is one of those older adults who has benefited from the lunch program. She has been coming here since 2015.
"I feel good, you know, because I'm proud of this place - it's the best," says Karros.
KleinLife also has a garden open to the neighborhood.
"It's kind of a pick for yourself as it's ripened," says Fredric Byarm, Food Sufficiency Director for KleinLife.
This year they've harvested raspberries and strawberries from the community garden.
There's also a small orchard on site, which Owen Sherman volunteers to maintain since retiring from a job in horticulture. There are apple trees, peach trees, fig trees and a pawpaw tree, among some others.
Sherman, the lead orchard volunteer with the Philadelphia Orchard Project, says "the cherry trees bore real heavy" this year.
"They passed it out in the lunches they serve here," he says.
"I love it and I know it's from the garden here," says Karros.
"It's an essential part of our diets, especially with older adults," says Skylar Young, Special Projects Coordinator for the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.
KleinLife is also one of 20 locations handing out vouchers for PCA's Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.
"Seniors receive, this year, $50 worth of vouchers to go to farmers markets around the city to get fresh produce that they wouldn't normally have access to," says Young.
There are over 35 participating markets across the city.
"Seniors can get their vouchers until September 30, and they have to spend them by November 30," she says.
There are some criteria that must be met in order to receive the vouchers.
"They have to be 60 or over, live in Philadelphia, and fall under the income guidelines," says Young.
"We served over 800 seniors who came here to receive those vouchers," says Gulko.
"This place, it's just something else, very blessing," says Karros.
For more information:
Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
KleinLife - Philadelphia Community Center: Family & Senior Services
KleinLife
10100 Jamison Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19116
