Mobile Granny’s Market delivers fresh food to seniors around Orange County
Gilda Miranda enjoys her life at Villa Anaheim Senior Apartments, where she’s lived for about a decade.
The 77-year-old has a vibrant personality and calls others around the complex simply “Mama” or “Papa.”
For the record:
9:58 a.m. April 8, 2024This article has been updated to reflect that there is only one newer Granny’s Market vehicle, not two.
She sees many of her friends on Tuesday mornings. That’s a time for Villa Anaheim residents to gather, head to the parking lot and visit Granny’s Market, a “park-it market” provided by Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County that delivers free, fresh food to more than 60 seniors who live there.
This is a real benefit for Miranda, who still works a retail job. But she wrecked her car a few weeks ago after the brakes gave out, she said, so having the food come to her is certainly nice.
She smiled on Tuesday, her dyed red hair matching her shirt and a brown cross around her neck, as she described the benefits.
“The food is good because sometimes we don’t have money to buy our own groceries,” Miranda said. “I get food stamps, but this helps a lot because sometimes I can’t get out.”
Second Harvest introduced its first park-it market in 2018. Now the newer Granny’s Market vehicle incorporates additional senior-specific design elements, like low shelves and double-sided access.
The mobile market was named in honor of Mary Ann “Granny” Schoellerman, the mother whose family foundation’s generous contribution helped launch the program.
Second Harvest chief executive Claudia Bonilla Keller said the nonprofit learned a lot about senior hunger during the coronavirus pandemic. More seniors needed help with food than they realized. Some were shut in, and many had health needs, like low salt or low sugar requirements.
“Then, a lot of seniors, especially here in Orange County, are on a fixed income,” Keller said. “If you have two or three of these factors in your life, getting to the grocery store to buy food is almost an impossibility. We like to bring the store to them. A lot of the items on here — fresh milk, fresh eggs, fresh vegetables — are really the backbone for a healthy diet.”
At Villa Anaheim, a drawing occurs each week to determine a senior’s place in line. There are also other foods like oatmeal, apples, chicken, carrots and cauliflower that seniors can choose to pick up.
Lisa Gibson, a registered dietitian who’s on the Second Harvest nutrition advisory council, said she appreciates the fact that the foods offered include protein-rich options, fruits and vegetables.
“As we age, we need fewer calories, but we need more or equally nutritious food,” Gibson said. “We really need to emphasize the nutrient-dense foods ... The challenge in Orange County is that most people think of Orange County as not having any food insecurity, being a wealthy community. But we find that about 20% of our senior population is facing food insecurity.”
After serving seniors at Villa Anaheim, Granny’s Market was headed to another facility down the street, where dozens more seniors would be served using the other side of the park-it market. Overall, the program gets fresh food to about 2,500 local seniors each month.
It’s a growing demographic. According to the 2023 Report on Aging in Orange County, the county currently has about 495,000 residents age 65 or older, about 15.7% of the total population. By 2050, the county’s 65-and-up population is expected to nearly double, to 926,000, or 28% of the total.
This creates a so-called “silver tsunami” of aging residents who are deeply vulnerable to poverty due to fixed incomes and who might make sacrifices in their food budget for bigger needs like housing and medication.
Keller said Second Harvest is looking for ways to expand Granny’s Market to other demographics in the future. But for now, seniors certainly are worthy recipients.
“People want choice, people want fresh, but not every facility is able to have a community room,” she said. “There’s something about just having it roll up. It’s an event, and people want to come to it because they know they’re going to get good food.”
Anyone in need of food anywhere in Orange County can be connected with a distribution site near them by visiting Second Harvest’s site at feedoc.org/need-food, or by calling 211.
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