Volunteers Bring Groceries For Seniors Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

PALOS VERDES, CA — Volunteers in Palos Verdes continue to step up for seniors with a program that pairs volunteers with people who need help during the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home order in Los Angeles County. From parents to graduates home from college, teachers and even a school principal, the community is pitching in to keep seniors safe in the peninsula.

About 40 volunteers and 100 seniors are participating so far, according to Linda Reid, a school board member for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District. The ongoing community effort has been taking place over the last several weeks and continues this month, Reid told Patch.

"We’ve been doing grocery shopping," Reid said. "I had someone help a senior with his iPad. I had someone deliver furniture."

Reid tries to match volunteers with seniors so they can keep shopping and stay in touch during the coronavirus outbreak.

"Each person has one to two seniors they shop for," she said. "It makes it as simple as possible."

More people in Palos Verdes are invited to participate.

"It’s people who feel like they can do a little here and there. It really isn’t a big time commitment," Reid said.

Diane Brunson in Palos Verdes participates in the match program and loves sending photos of what she makes with the food that volunteers bring her. She lost her husband of 48 years last year, has had cancer — twice — and appreciates the extra help.

"There’s a medical history that says I should really take this sequestering seriously and I shouldn’t go to the store," Brunson told Patch.

Brunson has family nearby, but they’re not shopping either because they want to stay sequestered so they can see her after the stay-at-home order is lifted. They stay home and social distance.

“They feel like I’m adjusting to life on my own,” Brunson said.

"I have a son who lives an hour and a half away in North Hollywood," she said. "He cannot come see me because his wife is pregnant with their second child and she has to go to Quest Diagnostics and in medical areas that she could bring a virus to me if they come see me. So they are in a situation where they don’t want to be the ones responsible for bringing something into my house. So they can’t do my shopping."

Reid encourages people to look out for one another, and she encourages seniors to accept help from the community.

“We’ll shop for seniors — and a lot of seniors, if you have friends and neighbors, please say 'yes,'” Reid said.

That's something that Brunson is still getting used to.

"So I’m sort of in this, this is my position, this is my situation. I’ve never been in a situation where I’m dependent on a stranger to help me," Brunson said. "We have to be dependent on somebody at this point."

She knows it's temporary — and it's OK.

"It’s a really unusual circumstance to have lived 72 years and in a way never having to feel in a way it’s like charity, but now I do," Brunson said. "We have to take this situation seriously; and most of us who are my age, we have to be very strict about our sequestering. We have to be very, very careful for ourselves and for others."

If you're a parent, student or graduate of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District interested in participating in the volunteer match program, contact Reid at reidl@pvpusd.net.

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