Every weekday morning, drivers arrive at Little Tokyo Towers at 10 a.m. carrying the precious cargo: seniors’ meals individually wrapped in tinfoil. Not too salty, not too sweet, each bento box is carefully divided by food group to meet federal nutrition standards.
Since 1976, Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services has sought to address food insecurity and social isolation among Asian American seniors in Los Angeles. Its meals are sold for $3.50 each and given away for free to those unable to pay.
“People have this misconception that ‘all Asians are rich,'” said Darlene Kuba, president of Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services. “Okay, it’s not like that.”
One in 10 Asian Americans face poverty In America, this fact is often hidden by the wealth gap that exists between different ethnic groups.
A woman walks through her daily meal provided by the nonprofit Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services at the Little Tokyo Towers in Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services delivers more than 100 meals a day to seniors in Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights – a vital service for those who can no longer cook independently or buy groceries. But the program faces an uncertain future. Many of its staff and volunteers are the same age as those they serve.
Perhaps more pressing are the funding challenges facing the food program. Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services is funded by the City of Los Angeles through a sub-contract with the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, which in turn contracts with the city’s Department on Aging.
Kuba alleges that the Watts Labor Community Action Committee is not paying his organization in full or on time for senior services, which has led to delays in paying the caterer for the meals, Far Bar, a gastropub in Little Tokyo. Is.
Yuji Katsumata, left, and Yoshiko Baker prepare meals provided by Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Watkins Labor Community Action Committee, one of the largest contractors in the city of Los Angeles, provides community services throughout the city and South LA chief executive Tim Watkins argues that Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services had overcharged for services . The Department on Aging declined to comment publicly on the issue and said it hoped both sides would reach a resolution.
Meanwhile, the food program is running out of time and money, Kuba said. Raising awareness to raise funds to keep the program going has been difficult, she said, and the waiting list of 50 people is growing longer.
Setsuko Nakama, the program’s executive director, is now in her seventies, but she still takes the bus and train from Riverside to Little Tokyo every morning to help distribute two dozen meals to Boyle Heights residents. Holding the railing with one hand and the food with the other, she walks up the stairs to a man’s apartment in her slippers.
On this particular day, it is Keyoshi Saito’s 90th birthday and Nakama brings his daily copy of the Los Angeles Times with his meal along with an extra dessert.
Setsuko Nakama, in her seventies, walks up the stairs to deliver food to a senior living in a Boyle Heights apartment.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“We distributed more than 40 meals,” Nakama recalled. Boyle Heights was one of the early prominent Japanese American communities that remained culturally significant even after the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Nakama said, “But now with the arrival of Latino immigrants most of the Japanese and Japanese Americans died out (or) they moved out”.
Many of the remaining seniors live alone in rent-controlled apartments in Boyle Heights where they struggle to even get around their living rooms, let alone their neighborhoods.
“I don’t drive anymore,” said Shirley Nakatsuru, 74, who has problems with her eyesight. Nakatsuru, who lives alone with her 15-year-old cat Hanako, has her essentials spread out on a table in front of her: soap, water, vitamins and dentures. It is clear from his surroundings that Nakatsuru faces mobility problems cleaning up after himself.
Shirley Nakatsuru, 74, lives alone with her cat in her rent-controlled Boyle Heights apartment and relies on the meal program for her nutrition.
(Gennaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“Sometimes I try to get something I can microwave,” Nakatsuru said. Who no longer cooks for herself. But finding healthy options isn’t always easy because of her diabetes. Nakatsuru receive senior meals – an essential part of their diet – delivered to their door by Nakama, five days a week. “It helps me eat more,” Nakatsuru said.
A USC study found that Asian Americans face higher rates of nutrition insecurity, Or lack of access to healthy food. This is where groups like Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services can fill the gap by providing culturally friendly foods, while also overcoming the potential language barriers that exist for Asian seniors.
Each month, a menu is tailored to the preferences of Asian seniors who want familiar and comforting food. Although the senior dining program provides most of its programming and services in Japanese, a significant portion of the residents living at Little Tokyo Towers who receive meals are Chinese and Korean.
“I like Japanese food,” said Soonyong Hahm, a 79-year-old Korean woman sitting with friends in the dining hall of Little Tokyo Towers. “Korean food is very hot.” She and her friends enjoy the variety prepared by the Asian Fusion Far Bar. Hamburgers and odeng soup, a type of Korean fish cake dish, are among his favorites.
A happy Kim, 98, enjoys a meal provided by the senior dining program at Little Tokyo Towers in Los Angeles.
(Gennaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services not only provides meals, but also provides health screenings. On more than one occasion, volunteers have called 911 when they found a senior injured or unresponsive during a food distribution.
In one example, a senior “was calling from across the room, ‘Can you help me? Can you call the manager?’ “She collapsed across the room,” said Mariko Miyazato, site manager of Little Tokyo Towers. Meal delivery sometimes offers the only human contact for these home-bound seniors, which is handled by staff and volunteers. Otherwise it can be forgotten.
Richard Witsoe said he sometimes feels like he’s one of two white men who live in this subsidized seniors building of about 300 residents. But he credits Miyazato and the food service for helping unite him and his neighbors.
“There is a group of women here. I know them. I get worried when I don’t see them,” the 73-year-old man said. “I think some of them (also) say, ‘Oh, where’s Mr. Witsoe?’ ,
Little Tokyo Towers resident Richard Witsoe, 73, says the meal service helps unite him and his neighbors.
(Gennaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
He had also developed a routine of keeping an eye on other senior citizens who take food. She said it’s a much friendlier and safer environment than she experienced in her previous apartment near MacArthur Park, where she worried about her safety when she went out.
“As a group, they’re all very upbeat, very nice, very friendly, which is really nice,” Witsoe said of his neighbors.
Yuji Katsumata prepares to distribute food at Little Tokyo Towers.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Kuba said it is through the generosity of their vendor, Far Bar owner Don Tahara, that they are able to continue providing meals to needy seniors without delay.
“When we don’t get paid from the third-party organization that’s supposed to reimburse us for the food, that’s going to pick up the cost,” Kuba said. “He’ll put it on his credit card to buy food, prepare food, and he’ll deliver it here.”
Tahara knows that keeping his restaurant in debt for several months probably makes bad business sense. But as a longtime community member in Little Tokyo, the 70-year-old feels a responsibility to feed his neighbors, especially since many are on fixed incomes.
“I see how elderly people in Little Tokyo shop at the local markets,” Tahara said. “They buy minimal amounts of food and always seem to be looking for the best way to stretch the food.”
Setsuko Nakama delivers food to Toshiko Ishihara, 86, who lives alone in Boyle Heights.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Volunteer William Tuyor knows how important these meals are.
“This is equivalent to one-third of their daily nutrition. If they don’t get it, they’re basically doomed,” said the 38-year-old, who recently graduated from USC’s graduate nutrition program.
He said that for some senior citizens, this is the only meal of the day, and they ration out food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
As one of a handful of young volunteers, she is concerned about the longevity of the program as she has seen staff and volunteers become stretched thin and unable to help distribute food.
At one point while the elevators were undergoing maintenance, elderly volunteers had to climb dozens of stairs themselves to deliver food to residents on the 15th floor.
“It scares me because I can’t be there all the time. …I don’t want to see that service go away,” Tuyor said.
