The new Center for Healthy Seniors is named after our founder, Kristina Mailliard, who created Grey Bears in 1973 with her partner Gary Denny to help local seniors access the bountiful produce of Santa Cruz County. Though Kristina passed on in 2001, her vision lives on in the thousands of seniors and community members who have benefitted from Grey Bears in its 50 years of service. Her impact inspired our lead donors to ask her legacy be recognized through the building’s name.

Residents of Santa Cruz County, California aged 55 and older are eligible to receive a weekly grocery bag filled with fresh produce and healthy staples. Home deliveries are only available for seniors who are disabled and aged 50 or older. We prioritize residents aged 55 and older for our daily free Grey Bears Market food distribution and congregate hot lunch meals but usually have enough food to not turn away anyone in need.

The Grey Bears Healthy Food Program has three legs: Healthy Food Bag- weekly delivery of grocery bags of fresh produce and dry staples by 90 volunteers to 4,200 senior households via 72 driver routes and 42 pick-up sites, including 1,200 homebound seniors, free weekday on-site food distribution at the Grey Bears Market, and free week-day on-site Daily Hot Lunch Congregate Meals. Food for all programs comes from three key sources: food recovered from local grocery stores, bakeries and farms, food acquired through local food banks, and purchased food.

Seniors can sign up for the Healthy Food Bag delivery program online at greybears.org or by calling (831) 479-1055.

Grey Bears Hot Lunch Meal is offered from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm each weekday, Monday through Friday. Hot meals vary every day. Some examples of recent meals are salmon and rice pilaf with steamed vegetables, turkey enchiladas, meatloaf, and chicken tandoori.

At least one vegetarian and one vegan option are offered daily. The meal also includes cold salads and desserts donated by food donor partners. Grey Bears also provides other ways for seniors to access nutritious food, including the free Grey Bears On-site Food Distribution Market, where Santa Cruz County seniors can pick out fresh produce for free from 11 to 11:30am.

Grey Bears was conceived by former University of California, Santa Cruz student Kristina Mailliard, who noticed seniors struggling to put food on the table, while unharvested produce was going fallow in gardens and fields. She and her then boyfriend, Gary Denny, motivated an army of like-minded altruists to glean food from the fields to feed hungry seniors. After the Harvest Festival was held in 1973 and seniors were provided with a feast, the following year held the first of 51 holiday dinners at the downtown Civic Center. What Mailliard unexpectedly learned from that first event was that the seniors weren’t looking for a handout, they were hoping for a hand in actively participating to feed fellow seniors and through the giving process, also helped themselves. The perfect recipe combining healthy food, reusing what would otherwise end up in the landfill, and a healthy dose of community-minded spirit was written. By 1975, Grey Bears had grown to serve 1,200 seniors, with volunteers delivering produce to homebound recipients and gleaning from 15 farms. The organization’s rapid growth and national media attention brought it into the spotlight. In 1976, Grey Bears was officially incorporated as a nonprofit and held its first volunteer celebration and in 1989 was named by President George H.W. Bush in his inaugural speech as one of the 1,000 Points of Light, community organizations spreading through the nation to do good.

Grey Bears received its name through Kristina Mailliard’s vision and ties to the University of California system. The “Grey” in Grey Bears represents its purpose as a senior-centric organization. Inspired by Cal Berkeley and the state flag, she and co-founder Gary Denny aimed to bring the self-making, grassroots spirit of Berkeley and California to the newly-fledged organization. Bears are a symbol of strength and courage—Grey Bears lives up to this symbol through honoring the strength of our elders while holding firm in our commitment to our community, unafraid to meet the challenges our senior neighbors face.

Grey Bears hit its stride circa the very first Earth Day, so every action we take is rooted in extending the life of people, things and our planet, and this conservation mindset literally feeds our premier food for Senior’s programs. Because we value being thrifty with our resources, every dollar invested yields multiple returns. Second only to the value of in-kind food donated and recovered, revenue from goods donated and reused or recycled represents 27 % of our annual revenue stream. Beyond its role as a value-driven revenue source, Grey Bears has been rooted in sustainability since its inception- from the first gleaning to feed malnourished seniors in 1973, to rolling repurposed newspaper to sell to the flower industry in the 1980s, picking up rubble and much more after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, to turns at recycling cans, bottles, carboard, scrap metal, appliances, densifying discarded Styrofoam, and now recovering unused food from grocers, bakeries and farms, squeezing plenty out of little sets us apart from the pack.

Senior food programs have been shown to improve both the physical and mental health of older adults. Studies indicate that approximately 9 million older adults in the U.S. experience food insecurity, with nearly 50% of seniors in low-income households lacking access to enough nutritious food. Food programs help reduce malnutrition, with evidence showing that food assistance programs can decrease rates of hospitalization and emergency room visits among seniors. For example, seniors who participate in meal programs report improved dietary intake, which can lower the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension. Moreover, the social aspect of these programs, especially those run by volunteers, plays a crucial role in combating loneliness, which affects an estimated 43% of adults aged 60 and older in the U.S.

Social isolation can have serious health consequences, increasing the risk of depression, cognitive decline, and even premature death. By fostering connections through volunteer-led interactions—whether it’s through home delivery, shared meal events, or simply regular check-ins — these programs help reduce loneliness. One study found that seniors who engaged in social activities tied to food programs had a 30% lower risk of depression and reported higher overall well-being. The combination of nutritious meals and social connection significantly enhances both the physical and emotional health of older adults.

In 2024, 759 volunteers donated over 70,000 hours to serving senior neighbors in their community, While their donated time is valued at over $2 million per year, volunteers are important to Grey Bears not only because they provide a majority of the people power it takes to do everything we accomplish on behalf of nourishing seniors, but volunteerism is part of our mission and value system. Additionally, our Founder’s realization that seniors wanted a hand in nourishing themselves and their peers, not a handout, has become foundational to our mission and value system. 67% of our volunteers are seniors.

Yes! Grey Bears offers weekly orientation for new volunteers. During orientation volunteers are informed of Grey Bears’ policies and procedures and are given a campus tour. Volunteers are then trained by department supervisors for their specific roles. Healthy Food Program volunteers are trained in food-safe handling procedures and undertake work such as bagging food for delivery, stocking the Grey Bears Market, food recovery, quality control, hot lunch meal food preparation and food service