The nearly 300 older adults that Sierra Bastis, a 22-year-old University of Georgia student, serves through her internship at the Athens Community Council on Aging are more than numbers on a spreadsheet. She knows many of them by name, knows their stories and knows what day of the month they can expect a bag of groceries through the council’s Senior Staples program.
Bastis studies health promotion with a minor in disaster management and plans to graduate in December. Originally from Dallas, Georgia, she started working at the council in May through the AmeriCorps VISTA program, which connects members with community organizations that alleviate poverty.
When the summer position ended, she stayed on as an unpaid intern. In addition to school and her two other jobs, one on campus and one as a waitress, Bastis works about 20 hours a week at the council.
Credit: Samantha Hurley
Credit: Samantha Hurley
Senior Staples delivers about a week’s worth of free groceries once a month to adults over 60 who have difficulty driving to get food. The council took on the program from the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia in January 2023.
Bastis spends most of her time on the phone with clients, assessing their needs and matching them with the right program. When she started working on the program, the waitlist for Senior Staples had more than 100 names. Through her work, the waitlist was cleared by November.
She said some clients call expecting to be put on the waitlist for Senior Staples. Now, when a client calls the council to get groceries, they can often get their first delivery within two weeks.
“Food is such a basic right,” Bastis said. “If I can help (clients) have access to stable food, then I will do it. I will call whoever I need to as many times as I need to. So, I think that’s kind of what makes me keep going.”
Volunteers deliver on around nine routes every Tuesday to serve the Senior Staples clients. The deliveries also serve as important points of contact to check on their health and wellbeing to make sure they are OK.
“It’s a very big deal that they see the person receiving the meal,” Bastis said. “Because we’re not only just delivering.”
Credit: Lilly Kersh
Credit: Lilly Kersh
She also makes special deliveries of diapers, cat food and other necessities a client might need. On deliveries, people have invited Bastis in for tea or to chat. Many call the council to speak directly with her.
“I love to know that someone has asked for me specifically because … that must mean that they know me and that they know that I can help them,” she said.
Jennifer Shaikun, the council’s Meals on Wheels program director and Bastis’ supervisor, has seen her go above and beyond to serve individuals and connect them with the right resources.
“We kind of have an attitude at ACCA of wanting to find ways to say ‘Yes,’” Shaikun said. “There’s so much need with the clients that we serve and in our community as a whole. And I think (Bastis) really kind of embraced that.”
Most clients are low-income and must budget carefully to afford groceries and pay their bills, Bastis said. In Georgia, 11% of adults over 60 live in poverty and 8.3% are food insecure, which is defined as “facing the threat of hunger and lacking safe and adequate food,” according to Georgia’s Division of Aging Services. According to the Athens Community Council on Aging’s 2023 impact report, the organization’s programs served 16,680 community members.
Many older adults are in a situation where their spouse has passed away, they live far away from their family, or their family has been in a cycle of poverty. Transportation also contributes to food insecurity among older adults, Bastis said.
Credit: Lilly Kersh
Credit: Lilly Kersh
Linda Dunn, a 70-year-old lifelong Athens resident, was one of the first Senior Staples clients.
“It is a blessing,” Dunn said. “A lot of people can’t move around, get around much … I met a lot of people I know who get the bags.”
As she prepares to graduate, Bastis is just getting started helping people with disabilities and older adults.
“There’s still so much more than I want to help out with,” she said. “I just want to keep learning and keep helping and kind of understanding maybe why there’s such a gap for people with disabilities and older adults, and how maybe we could close that gap.”
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