Fresh Food For Seniors Program Returns To Upper West Side

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A program that offers senior citizens a discount on locally-grown fresh produce is returning to the Upper West Side for the summer, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer announced this week.

The "Fresh Food for Seniors Program" will make its return on June 27, but seniors are now able to sign up for the program. The program allows seniors to purchase a bag of locally-grown produced twice a month for just $8 per bag.

“The Fresh Food for Seniors program helps seniors get delicious, healthy foods in an affordable and reliable way—all while supporting local agriculture at the same time. It is a model for community programming that fits a local need and serves a broader good," Upper West Side City Council Member Helen Rosenthal said in a statement.

A number of senior centers on the Upper West Side are participating in the program, but will only sign up their own residents or members. The Goddard Riverside Senior Center, located on Columbus Avenue between West 88th and 89th streets, will offer the program for all neighborhood senior citizens. Seniors can sign up for grocery deliveries at the senior center on Mondays and Tuesdays from 1-3 p.m. and pick up their produce the following Wednesday from 1-3 p.m., according to the borough president's office.

The following buildings and centers will offer pick up for residents and members:

• Bloomingdale Aging in Place
• DOROT
• Goddard Riverside NORC
• JASA: Club 76
• JASA NORC: St. Martin's Tower
• Project Find: Clinton Senior Center
• Project Find: Hamilton House
• Project Open at Lincoln Towers
• NCJW Council Lifetime Learning
• Westside Interagency Council for the Aging
• 711 Amsterdam Avenue

The program is also offered for seniors living in Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen and on Roosevelt Island, city officials said.

Photo by Shutterstock