POWAY —— Surgery and a convalescent hospital stay helped Betty Brandow recover from a broken hip enough that she was sent home in February. Her current dependence on a walker, though, means the 87-year-old widow has a hard time cooking for herself.

Brandow solved the problem by signing up for the Poway Senior Center's home-delivered meals program. The service brings a hot, well-balanced lunch right to her door every day, seven days a week.

"It's worked out very, very well," Brandow said after her meal arrived Thursday. "I've been very pleased."

She is one of nearly two dozen people currently enrolled in the meal service, which is part of a two-pronged nutrition program the senior center operates under a partnership with the county. The center also provides hot meals on-site five days a week.

The nutrition program has been a staple at the center, at 13094 Civic Center Drive, for years. The program recently came under scrutiny, though, as officials at the city and the center try to sort out financial troubles that have left the center with monthly deficits of up to $15,000.

A consultant hired to go over the center's books found the nutrition program is partially to blame for the deficit because it costs the center more than it brings in. The center's board of directors, however, decided the program is too valuable to eliminate.

Pat Palmer, senior services and outreach coordinator for the center, said last week that the food provided by the program often are the only hot meals recipients eat. That is particularly true of homebound seniors who get the home-delivered meals, she said.

Visits by the North County Times to some recipients' homes last week revealed they rely on the program for various reasons, including temporary illness or injuries, ongoing disabilities and general frailness. Regardless of why they participate, program beneficiaries interviewed for this story said the service is a godsend.

Dual goals

The nutrition program is run by the county's Aging & Independence Service department, which uses federal money to pay for the service. Its goal is to provide people age 60 and older with low-cost, nutritionally sound meals and social interaction. For some seniors, the program makes the difference between being able to live independently in their own homes and moving to a retirement or assisted-living center.

The Poway Senior Center is among several agencies that contract with the county to offer the nutrition in various parts of the San Diego area. Housed in a city-owned building in Poway Community Park, the senior center is run by the Poway Valley Seniors Citizens Corp.

The nonprofit organization's contract with the county calls for the center to serve 18,304 meals to seniors in Poway and surrounding communities annually. In return, the center receives $79,041 a year from the county.

The senior center pays Mira Mesa-based Buckboard Catering $4 per meal to prepare the food served by the center. People under 60 who eat the meals have to reimburse the center for their full cost.

Those 60 and up are asked to make a donation, with most contributing a recommended amount of $3 each. Those who can't afford to pay for their meals eat for free.

Under ideal circumstances, the federal money combined with the donations balances out the program's cost. However, the senior center's interim director, Doug Clark, said the center often serves fewer people than the contract calls for.

When that happens, he said, the senior center must send some of the county money back. Representatives from the facility recently met with county officials to discuss ways to increase participation and make other changes so the program pays for itself, said Clark.

Volunteer-dependent

The number of seniors enrolled in the home-delivered meals service ranges from 20 to 40 at any given time, said Palmer. Currently, 21 people are enrolled.

The service relies on about 20 volunteers who pack and deliver the food. Helpers include retirees, members of the National Charities League's Poway chapter, and others wanting to give back to their community.

On Thursday, four volunteers joined senior center nutrition manager Grace Baker in the facility's kitchen to divvy up large pans of stuffed chicken and mixed vegetables that Buckboard Catering dropped off around 9 a.m.

Working quickly in assembly-line fashion, the group placed individual portions into small aluminum trays, clamped on cardboard lids and stacked the trays in giant insulated food packs destined for three different delivery routes. A crate of white sacks containing small Caesar salads, tortillas and pudding cups was added to each food pack, as was a portable cooler filled with small cartons of nonfat milk in ice.

When volunteer driver Hazel Hoole arrived at 10 a.m. to pick up food for her delivery run, Palmer helped her load the meals into the trunk of Hoole's car. A Poway resident who maintains a busy schedule of daily activities, Hoole said she looks forward to the hour or so it takes her to drop off meals along a nine-stop route that includes several homes in local mobile-home parks.

"I'm a retired nurse, so I'm a people person," she said, lifting the heavy black food pack as if it were weightless. "I have to have something to do. And I get along with the elderly, so … .

"Some of them are a little lonely, so when you get there they like to chat. I don't mind at all. I'll usually stay and talk with a lot of them a little bit."

At each of her stops, she emerged from her car with a bright orange in hand. Reaching into her trunk, Hoole pulled out one of the aluminum pans and set it on a tray with a milk and paper bag before knocking on a recipient's door.

Recipients appreciative

Big smiles and lit-up faces greeted her. Handing over the meals, Hoole chatted animatedly with those receiving the food, usually inquiring about their well-being. Her stops included the home of Shirley Walker, who came to the door in a motorized wheelchair.

Warmly welcoming her visitors in and proudly showing off her two tiny Chihuahuas, the 70-year-old Walker said she enrolled in the program after multiple sclerosis put her in her wheelchair about 13 years ago. She rated the food as "always good" and said the program lets her part-time caregivers focus their efforts on things other than cooking.

"It's really excellent, and it's very nutritious," Walker said, admitting to having personal favorites such as the corned beef and cabbage meal provided for St. Patrick's Day. "Sometimes, I can save the dessert or salad for my evening meal and make two meals out of it."

Walker's neighbors, Louie and Dorothy Lambert, were next on Hoole's list of stops. Roused from a nap by his wife, who uses a walker, 88-year-old Louie seemed groggy until Hoole's cheerful greeting brought a wide grin to his face.

Dorothy, 85, is a diabetic. She said she was enrolled in the home-delivered meals program for awhile but dropped out because it does not offer special-diet food. Still, she said she likes the fact that her husband, who is legally blind, is enrolled because it spares her from kitchen duty.

"I'm a pretty lazy cook," Dorothy Lambert said ruefully. "And we really enjoy the people coming in every day. This lady (Hoole) is one of our favorites. She's always friendly, and she likes to talk."

Brandow said the vegetables that come with her meals are often overcooked. Like the Lamberts, though, she said she likes recent changes that added ethnic foods such as gyros to the meal program's menu.

Brandow and fellow meal program participant Dorothy Boswell also said they look forward to the volunteers' visits. A former teacher, Boswell said she was referred to the program by employees at Pomerado Hospital after she underwent a hip replacement there four years ago,

"All the people that deliver are really nice and considerate," she said. "And it seems like once you get in with that group at the senior citizens center, they kind of keep their eye on you to make sure that you're OK. To have someone who checks on you every day to make sure you're OK means a lot to people."

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.