Monday is shopping day at the Cathedral City Senior Center food bank. Clients arrive early, and from 9 to 11 a.m., they get to choose from a cornucopia of dairy, breads, meats and produce.
Some days, there are fresh flowers or bundles of aromatics plucked from the center’s on-site herb garden. Swordfish and shrimp were available when Jan Gelgood visited the food bank one recent Monday. She was pleasantly surprised; the mild, slightly sweet fish is one of her favorites.
Gelgood said the groceries she gets there help stretch her budget. “I got four huge swordfish steaks,” said Gelgood. “I love seafood, but it’s expensive. I can’t afford to buy it.”
Senior centers around the Coachella Valley provide an array of nutrition programs, from food banks to dine-in and delivery options, all with the goal of ensuring vulnerable seniors and their families never go without food—and today, local senior centers are busier than ever.
When the Trump administration threatened to suspend SNAP and WIC benefits during the federal government shutdown late in 2025, local food programs responded with more outreach and information. Donors and corporate sponsors also stepped up.
Victor Ide is chief operating officer at the Cathedral City Senior Center. He said any confusion about federal policies was abated by the community rallying to the mission.
“With the announcements that the SNAP benefits were going to be halted in November, we received phone calls from several members, many of them in tears, saying, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do. I rely on that money to buy food every month,’” said Ide.
The center immediately sent out emails to donors and members, making sure it was known that anyone with food needs could get help at the center. Ide said the food bank saw a spike of more than 150 people that very next Monday. Dedicated donors, in turn, answered the call with more donations of food and money.
“We had people stepping up,” said Ide. “The community really, really came together. And you know what we realized? When the government does these things that are confusing to people or that are actually harming people, our community really does step up.”
The Mizell Center in Palm Springs provides several dining programs. Each weekday, seniors can buy lunch for $5 at five regional senior centers, including Mizell, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs and Indio; seniors can enroll in the program with a photo ID. Mizell’s Meals on Wheels program delivers more than 600 meals a day, throughout the entire Coachella Valley. Seniors 60 and older who live alone and are homebound can apply.
The Joslyn Center in Palm Desert operates a weekly food bank on Fridays from 8 to 10 a.m. that, like the food bank in Cathedral City, is open to the public. Interim executive director Jack Newby is currently steering the senior center he directed previously for seven years. He said the hardest thing to handle is the uncertainty of not knowing what changes will have to be faced next.
“We had additional people come into our nutrition program and our farmers’ market (after the suspension of SNAP in November), and that’s continued to grow,” he said.
He said food insecurity has trickled down to people who have not previously experienced food insecurity.
“We hear inflation is under control,” said Newby. “But with respect to food, it isn’t. And I frequently hear people saying, ‘It’s costing me $100 just for a single bag of groceries.’ I’ve experienced that myself. So, people are turning to community organizations to help supplement basically their food budget.”
“When we sent that memo out about the CalFresh benefit (being suspended during the federal government shutdown) and how much we needed their support, we literally had one donor call and say, ‘I want to give you $10,000 right now.”
Victor Ide, chief operating officer at the Cathedral City Senior Center
Alex Garcia is program director at Joslyn Center, where he oversees food operations. He said they serve 85 to 100 people every Friday—but because each individual may be getting food for additional household members, the true total is closer to 170 people, according to Garcia.
He said local donors and community support have kept food programs at the Joslyn Center stable despite challenges caused by the federal government—including the expiration of health-insurance tax credits at the end of 2025.
“Any changes or anything like that, I know we try to keep up with all the information on how certain things are happening, what’s being shut down or put on hold, etc.,” Garcia said. “We’ve had the pleasure, the honor, of working with multiple organizations, from local farmers, FIND Food Bank and some local stores, and asking for donations. … We’ve still been able to put food out there for our people.”
Back at the Cathedral City Senior Center, Ide said these philanthropic heroes fall into two categories: local grocery stores who provide the bulk of fresh produce and sundry goods, and donors who give cash donations.
“It’s pretty much every major grocery store in the valley,” said Ide. “Whether it’s Vons, Albertsons, Stater Bros., Grocery Outlet—every weekend, we get loads and loads of fresh vegetables. That’s what they can’t keep on the shelf anymore, but it’s all perfectly good food. So those are definitely heroes.
“But the other heroes that I want to spotlight are the people who support senior centers in terms of money—our donors. I can tell you, when we sent that memo out about the CalFresh benefit (being suspended during the federal government shutdown) and how much we needed their support, we literally had one donor call and say, ‘I want to give you $10,000 right now. I want you to buy as much food as you need to for next Monday.’ I mean, it’s that kind of support that we’re given. That’s incredible.”
Gelgood makes a point to support the stores that donate to the food banks, by shopping at them when she can. She also said the herbalist who tends the gardening plot at the Cathedral City Senior Center doesn’t get enough kudos.
“He funds all the seeds and does all this gardening,” she said. “He harvests the herb garden, lettuce, vegetables, figs and donates it all to the food bank.”
She said she once called attorney Walter Clark to thank him after he sponsored an extravagant spread of holiday fixings at the food bank.
“We are so blessed here,” Gelgood said.