Local Filipino Senior Center Provides Vital Services to Elders in Need
Seattle, WA. The IDIC Filipino Senior & Family Services is a Filipino nonprofit organization based in Beacon Avenue, South Seattle. The Covid-19 pandemic has not stopped the nonprofit from serving the elderly community, underserved immigrants, and vulnerable families. Currently, most of the nonprofit’s services have shifted online via appointment for information and housing assistance, but the nonprofit is still offering no-contact meal delivery for seniors in need as seen above.
Launched in 1973 as a small daycare, the nonprofit now provides multiple services to the Filipino community. The organization advocates for healthcare benefits, social security assistance, and other concerns the elderly Filipino community members may experience.
Volunteers of the IDIC help out with bagging groceries and supplies for delivery.
The IDIC Filipino Senior & Family Services has been faring well despite the Covid-19 crisis, but the community they served still needs more help. One positive development is that volunteers have managed to shift their priorities to delivering food meals and bags to the seniors of the community most impacted (seniors are more vulnerable to getting harsher health issues to recover from due to Covid-19) with the help of the local food bank.
Once a week, the organization delivers prepared food. Volunteers serve more than 200 individuals over the age of 55 and adults with disabilities.
The IDIC Filipino Senior & Family Services hopes to expand its efficiency to provide more adequate care to underserved communities. As a result, they now have two more vehicles to help out with transportation. A bus for the elderly to get to and from the center, and a car to deliver the food bags around the Beacon area.
The organization is still very much in need of more volunteers (drivers and baggers) to help provide warm meals for the most vulnerable seniors and are grateful for the support they have received to continue their services.
From IDIC Filipino Senior & Family Services:
At the present home of IDIC on Beacon Hill in South Seattle, a broad range of services available to members and county residents include information and assistance, veterans’ advocacy and benefits assistance, health seminars, estate planning guide and referrals, subsidized housing advice, disability and social security benefits advocacy, and other concerns that seniors citizens encounter. To combat mild depression there is PEARLS (Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives for Seniors), courtesy of the City of Seattle’s Human Services Department.
The IDIC is managed by an Executive Director who reports to a 15-member Board. With its current resources, the IDIC has a total of nine full and part-time staff. They work closely with community-based organizations like the Sound Generations, Food Lifeline, Filipino War Veterans of Washington (FWVW), Asian Counseling & Referral Service (ACRS), the Filipino Community of Seattle (FCS), Muckleshoot Tribe Foundation, King County, City of Seattle Human Services Department Aging & Disability Services, and the Seattle Foundation to name a few.
