A project to help seniors and restaurants alike during the pandemic got a $660,000 boost Tuesday from Marin County supervisors.
The board approved the allocation as front money for the pilot program, which will pay local restaurants to provide meals to older residents who are sheltering from the coronavirus outbreak.
The trial period will begin on Monday and end on May 29. There is an option to extend the program through June 10.
The county expects the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state to pay all but about $41,000 of the cost.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the program on April 24, and initially it was to have been completed by May 10.
“But that deadline was extended almost immediately,” said Kari Beurman, Marin County’s social services director.
Some rural and small counties decided not to participate because of the short timeline and fears they might not be reimbursed if they failed to comply with all of the program’s detailed specifications.
In Marin, the program will provide up to three delivered meals per day, five days a week to the first 1,000 older adults who qualify, Beurman said. To qualify, applicants must be 65 or older, or at least 60 if they are at high risk from an underlying health condition or exposure to the virus.
Qualified applicants must also live alone or with one other program-eligible adult, earn less than $74,940 per year and be unable to obtain meals through other state or federal programs.
Beurman said the program might allow some seniors who have been shopping at grocery stores to avoid taking that risk. Potential participants can apply by calling Whistlestop at 415-456-9073.
One of the participants, Barbara Edwards, 74, who lives in low-income senior housing in San Rafael, said, “I’m so excited because it has been very dreary being isolated and not having much money and being very frightened to go to the store.”
Edwards, a retired preschool teacher who lives on Social Security benefits, said she goes to the grocery store only once every three weeks and has been living mainly on rice and beans.
“To have this is like Christmas and the Fourth of July,” she said. “It’s like ordering from a restaurant. I haven’t done that in a long time.”
Beurman said 36 Marin restaurants and cafes filled out the local application, and the county will strive to include as many as possible. Participating businesses will be paid up to $17 per breakfast, $18 per lunch and $31 per dinner, including delivery costs and taxes.
“It will allow us to put some of our guys back to work,” said Jeff Scharosch, one of the owners of the Spinnaker restaurant in Sausalito, which has been selected to participate in the program.
Scharosch said the Spinnaker had to lay off about 95% of its 80-person staff when the county “shelter in place” order took effect in March. The restaurant has a skeleton staff filling takeout and delivery orders four days a week.
Scharosch said initially most people were eating at home, but as the shelter period has dragged on more people are buying takeout or delivery.
“It keeps a couple guys working. It covers primary costs such as food and labor. But it’s not a sustainable model for the future,” Scharosch said. “Dine-in is our model, it’s what we do well.”
Another Marin eatery selected to participate in the program is the Rustic Bakery, which has sites in Kentfield, Novato, Tiburon and Larkspur.
“It’s not going to be a very high margin product but it will allow me to bring some of the employees that I have had to furlough,” said Carol LeValley, the bakery’s owner. “In particular I want my bakers to be fully employed. Those guys are really special and hard to replace.”
Carol LeValley said at the beginning of the sheltering period she doubted she would be able to generate enough revenue to keep her stores open. The closure order was issued the day before St. Patrick’s Day, and the bakery was stocked with soda bread. The business has had to lay off about 80 of its 140 cafe employees.
However, the bakery quickly pivoted to doing takeout and deliveries, LeValley said. She has been pleasantly surprised by the incremental growth in her orders.
“We’re settling into the new normal at this point,” LeValley said. “It feels like because of the lower labor costs we might be able to be sustainable in the long run. That is my hope at least.”
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Marin funds project for restaurants to feed seniors - Marin Independent Journal
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