Senior Centers, Meal and Food Assistance, Transportation Resources

Senior & Community Services

• Mizell Center — 760-323-5689. One of the Valley’s major senior resources, offering 60+ weekly activities, education, fitness, social programs, nutrition services and other programs supporting independent aging. Mizell also operates the Coachella Valley’s Meals on Wheels program.
  Mizell Center
• The Joslyn Center — 760-340-3220. Serves Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells and surrounding communities, with 80+ weekly programs including fitness, recreation, education, social activities, counseling and wellness programs.
  The Joslyn Center
• Cathedral City Senior Center — 760-321-1548. Programs for adults 55+, including social and recreational activities, exercise, education, health programs, food assistance and connections to social services.
  Cathedral City Senior Center
• Indio Senior Center — 760-391-4170. Activities, classes, events, health screenings, educational programs and assistance for adults 50+.
  Indio Senior Center
• Eleanor Shadowen Senior Center — 760-398-0104. Recreation, physical fitness, health promotion, health screenings, nutrition programs and seasonal cooling/warming services.
  Coachella Senior Center
• La Quinta Wellness Center — 760-564-0096. Senior programs for adults 55+, classes, wellness activities, food distribution and community-resource information.
  La Quinta Senior Services

Meals & Food Assistance

Meals on Wheels – Mizell Center — 760-323-5689. Mizell currently identifies itself as the only Meals on Wheels provider in the Coachella Valley, preparing and delivering more than 600 meals each weekday. Home-delivered meals are available for qualifying adults age 60+ who are homebound because of illness, disability or isolation, and service may be temporary or ongoing.
Mizell Center Meals & Nutrition

For Meals on Wheels enrollment, residents can also contact their local senior center: Cathedral City 760-321-1548; Coachella 760-398-0104; Desert Hot Springs 760-329-0222; La Quinta 760-564-0096; Palm Desert 760-340-3220; Palm Springs/Mizell 760-323-5689.

The Joslyn Center Community Food Bank offers food distribution on Friday mornings, while the Cathedral City Senior Center offers an affordable lunch program and food bank, and the La Quinta Wellness Center provides food distribution and information about available assistance.

For seniors receiving CalFresh, Riverside County also participates in the Restaurant Meals Program, allowing eligible adults age 60+ and certain other qualifying recipients to use EBT benefits for prepared meals at participating restaurants.
CalFresh Restaurant Meals Program

Transportation

SunLine Transit Agency provides public bus transportation throughout the Coachella Valley. Its SunDial Paratransit service provides ADA paratransit transportation for individuals whose disabilities prevent them from independently using regular fixed-route buses. Eligibility and a SunDial Paratransit ID are required. For information or eligibility assistance, call 760-343-3451.
SunDial Paratransit Information

JFS Express – Jewish Family Service of the Desert provides free, volunteer-based transportation for medical appointments for registered local seniors age 60+. Registration is free. Call 760-325-4088 ext. 117 for transportation information.
JFS Express Senior Transportation

Riverside County Office on Aging can also connect seniors with transportation-assistance programs based on eligibility and location. Call 877-932-4100.

Do you remember the classic book Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson, with a foreword by leadership expert Ken Blanchard? Its memorable message was about adaptability—understanding that change is inevitable and recognizing when it’s time to go looking for the “cheese” that has moved.

We know change is inevitable, yet altering our circumstances can be incredibly difficult. We stay stuck for many reasons: fear of someone else’s reaction, uncertainty about the consequences of making a change, or simply not knowing what resources are available to help us.

My experience is that people will often remain stuck in their pain until it becomes so overwhelming that they finally yell, “Uncle!” By then, what might have been manageable has often become a crisis—a juggernaut barreling toward a desert of uncertainty and increasingly unmanageable circumstances.

Some people adapt quickly to change. They recognize the warning signs, anticipate a pending crisis, and begin looking for solutions. Others remain frozen until the instinct to fight or flee finally takes over.

And sometimes, the ability to reason through a solution is itself changing.

I often see subtle signs long before a diagnosis of dementia: a bad decision here, a questionable or predatory relationship there. Changes in judgment and executive functioning can make someone more vulnerable, particularly when they are seeking emotional connection, companionship, or financial opportunity. When danger is lurking, the inability to recognize it and respond quickly can leave us vulnerable to others.

There is a consequence to every decision we make—even when the decision is to make no decision at all. Some consequences are minor; others can alter the course of our lives.

Which brings me to the importance of planning.

We plan weddings. We plan vacations. We plan for retirement. Yet surprisingly few of us take the time to create a vision of aging.

What do you want your later years to look like? Where do you want to live? Who will help you if you need care? Who will make decisions if you no longer can? And perhaps most importantly, how will you pay for the care you may need?

Increasingly, financial planners and investment advisors are coming to us to help their clients answer these questions and develop a plan for aging successfully.

My friend Stan Israel, an expert in long-term care insurance, recently pointed me toward a Forbes article titled Why Long-Term Care Planning Could Be a Defining Wealth Issue of the Next Decade. It’s an important conversation. With the cost of 24/7 care in California—and in many other parts of the country—potentially reaching tens of thousands of dollars per month, understanding the alternatives for funding care has become essential.

For many families, those costs simply aren’t sustainable over the long term. That is precisely why the conversation needs to happen before the crisis.

So, who do you have in your back pocket to help complete your plan?

Ideally, your aging team should include your physician, attorney, financial planner, and care manager—professionals who can work together to help protect your health, finances, wishes, and independence.

Life has a way of moving our cheese around when we least expect it.

The question is: When your cheese moves, will you be prepared to find it?