PACIFIC GROVE — A place where many Pacific Grove residents find a sense of community has reopened with a new name and updated look. The Meals on Wheels Community Center in Pacific Grove, formerly the Sally Griffin Community Center, is looking to serve a wider audience as it works to maintain its vitality and diversity.
“For us, I would say we are equally as happy as the members are to see familiar faces again,” said Jacob Shafer, the director of development for Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula. “It’s a second home for them. … They’ve developed relationships over the years. To see them reconnecting with each other and staff has been great.”
Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula announced the reopening of its newly remodeled facility, along with its new name on Thursday.
Though the 35-year-old facility was named for the founder of the Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula, Sally Griffin, Shafer said the name change will clear up confusion about who the organization is and what it does.
The new name promotes the center’s ability to attract a broad range of community members and maintain its vitality and diversity.
“(Sally Griffin) was our founder and is at the center of what we do. She remains in our thoughts and our mission,” said Shafer. “She lives on with a portrait in the community center, in letterhead, our website and our member publication called the Griffin Gazette.”
The center has been closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Visitors and staff to the Meals on Wheels Community Center will be required to continue to wear masks indoors for the time being as the facility relies on the guidance and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the California Department of Public Health and the Monterey County Health Department crafting a reopening plan that includes enhanced health and safety protocols going beyond current requirements.
The center reopened on Monday and the plan is to phase in programs and activities. Lunch pickup is available and next Monday the center will start group lunches at 50% capacity.
The organization hopes the reopening of the community center will help to foster a sense of connectedness and joy to its members as it has undergone several major donor-sponsored renovation projects including interior and exterior painting, new flooring, upgraded furniture, a refreshed garden, and updated bathroom facilities.
Shafer said that the remodel was a combination of plans in the works before the pandemic and taking advantage of the closure over the course of the past 15 months.
“What better time to paint inside and out?” he said.
The community center has a new office layout, had a deep cleaning and has a new sound system. New signs with the new name are on the way.
Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula serves more than 1,000 people, most of whom are 60 years of age and older, offering more than 25,000 hours a year of programs ranging from group dining to health and wellness classes to special events. Some of those programs may remain suspended until they can resume safely.
Visit mowmp.org for more information or call 831-375-4454 as the community center’s procedures and guidelines may change as health and safety precautions evolve due to the ongoing pandemic.
