From Executive Director Pam Gnekow, March 11, 2020:

This notice is to inform the public of the precautions that the Buellton Senior Center has decided to take to help control the Coronavirus(COVID-19) and to protect our seniors who are at particular risk, and our employees who serve the community.

These decisions were made by contacting the City of Buellton and the County of Santa Barbara. We are following measures made by other senior community centers throughout our country and surrounding cities. These decisions are being evaluated and updated on a daily basis.

Until April 1, 2020, The Buellton Senior Center will be suspending the following: Lunch Buddies, Senior Dinner and Bingo.

We will be continuing 'Meals on Wheels’ but will be closing our dining room. However, we will have 'To-Go Meals' available to anyone who would like to order them.

Our food distributions on Mondays and Saturdays will continue, using purchased bags from Albertson's instead of the reusable bags our seniors provide. We will continue to put out vegetables and bread on our outdoor tables.

If you have any questions, please call the Buellton Senior Center for information.

Thank you and stay safe

Pam Gnekow

Click here to learn more from the CDC.

Click here to learn what the Foodbank is doing

Meal-sharing and Food Distribution Sites

• Do not allow staff or volunteers who have symptoms of coronavirus disease (such as a fever with cough) to come to work / distribution sites / distribution events.
• Temporarily discontinue self-service of ready-to-eat foods such as salad bars or buffets.
• Meal programs offering sit-down dining that serve individuals at high risk of developing severe COVID-19 disease should discontinue sit-down meal service and develop alternative methods of providing meals, such as:
  • Drive-through meal distribution
  • Takeout meal distribution
  • Home delivery of meals
• If at all possible, providers should stagger when people receive services, so that a large number of people are not gathered in the same area at the same time.
  • If this is not feasible, then establish methods of keeping people at least 6 feet apart while helping others, waiting in line or receiving services.
• Provide, when possible, alternative methods of providing meal services to individuals who are self-quarantining due to symptoms of coronavirus disease.
  • Encourage and facilitate good hand hygiene for both meal/food servers and recipients, as follows:
    • Meal servers handling open food must have access to handwashing facilities with single-use soap and paper towels
    • On-site dining for meal recipients is discouraged, but if it is planned, provide handwashing facilities for meal recipients as well as servers. Handwashing facilities must provide single-use soap and single-use paper towels in dispensers
    • For take-out, drive through or drop-off meal service at which there is no open food (food is prepackaged), providing alcohol-based hand sanitizers (containing at least 60% alcohol) for people to use while they wait or are receiving services is recommended.
• Remind staff, volunteers & meal recipients that individuals with symptoms of coronavirus disease, such as fever and cough, should remain home.