Senior News July, 2003 Vol. 23. No. 6

 

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Love of water leads to manufacturing and sharing with others

Well respected director takes helm at HSRC

Senior Employment Program is increased

Del Norte: Center provides information and guides to history and activities

Fortuna explores senior needs

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Well respected director takes helm at HSRC
by Barbara Clark

When Humboldt Senior Resource Center Nutrition Director Joyce Hayes dons the hat of executive director July 1, the entire staff will send up a cheer. We couldn't be happier that "one of our own" will be our new boss.

Hayes has led the HSRC nutrition department since 1994 when it was serving the federally funded Title III senior lunch program in dining centers and home delivered meals (HDM). Seeing the necessity to bring in additional revenues, she led the department to branch out to serve the Bear River Rancheria based in Loleta-a dispersed group of elders from Fortuna to Trinidad.

"That contract changed the way we operated," Hayes said. The department began serving frozen meals which now account for 40 percent of the HDM service, and allowed the growth in geographical areas like sending frozen meals to Trinidad via UPS.

She launched the Doorstep Dinner service which has evolved into a lunch program that delivers a hot meal to anyone who can pay for it in the Eureka area. The department serves the Arcata Sunrise Rotary breakfast every week. And in the summer it creates some 11,000 sack lunches in a contract with Food for People to serve low income children in summer schools and recreation programs throughout the county. For a number of years, the department created one of the popular Jazz Festival food booths and was sought out for its clam chowder and blackberry cobbler.

Now at the threshold of the next spurt of growth in the department, Hayes is satisfied to leave the program to "a qualified staff that will carry it forward. I'll be able to support it in a different role," she said.

As HSRC's new executive director, Hayes will be leading the almost 30-year-old agency through the challenging budget times of soaring insurance costs and increasing need for services-doing more with less.

"Like many nonprofits, we're waiting for the state budget decisions, and then we'll implement the changes. Every department has looked at ways to trim and reorganize. We are waiting to find out what the cuts will be," she said. "At the same time, as an agency, we must be a leader for providing quality services to seniors in our community and be able to expand and grow as the senior population increases. HSRC has excellent staff to accomplish this."

Hayes values the leadership of the outgoing executive director, Mary Beth Wolford. "Mary Beth was a great mentor for me and an excellent leader in the agency," Hayes said. "I've learned a lot from her. She was here at the right time when big things needed to be done. I've grown under her leadership."

A native Humboldt County resident, Hayes is married with the youngest daughter still at home. She is also serving her second term as president of the Eureka City School Board where she is now working with a Nutrition Policy Task Force to improve the quality of food, add more fresh prepared foods and make good nutrition available to more students. "It's well known that when students are well fed, there is better attendance, better behavior, better test scores." Hayes, a registered dietitian with a degree in dietetics and institutional management, is a strong resource for the group.

The executive director's role as publisher of Senior News will provide Hayes with a new leadership experience. "Our newspaper task is two-fold," she said. "It is the voice of the Senior Resource Center in the community, but on a bigger scale, it is a voice for senior issues. The paper is already doing that very well."

Hayes said she looks forward to staying in touch with the seniors who come to the dining centers, and to make sure that seniors stay involved at the different levels of the agency.

We on the staff say, "Welcome to the corner office, Joyce!"