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Saturday for Seniors is a community outreach ministry of Old Pine Street Church. Since 1978, this mission has provided spiritual and social fellowship, a Saturday noon dinner, and a bag lunch for low-income senior citizens. The program is staffed by Old Pine Street Church members and other volunteers from the community. Each Saturday a group of about 60 older adults gather at the Center. From 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, there is social and spiritual fellowship with snacks and beverages. Occasionally, there is musical entertainment, crafts, arts and presentations. At noon, the dinner is served. It consists of a salad or fruit dish, entree, vegetables and dessert. As the seniors leave, they pick up a lunch bag consisting of soup, fruit and cookies. Volunteers are needed every week. No experience is needed. Each Saturday, we need one kitchen boss, two kitchen helpers, and six to seven servers. In addition, we need people to buy the food each week. The seniors enjoy having someone to talk with each Saturday.
The Ostrander Pantry! On December 12th, 2009, the Old Pine Community Center recognized Dick and Liz Ostrander for their nearly 32 years of service to Saturday for Seniors by announcing the naming of the Ostrander Pantry. The announcement was made during a special Saturday for Seniors celebration. Dick remarked it was only the 2nd time he had ever ate with the seniors! The recognition was kicked off by a special performance of the Cherokee High School Girls Traveling Choir singing “The Lord Bless You and Keep You”. Ron Shaffer, Jim Everett and April Thomas-Jones shared their thoughts and April presented a special award, thanking Liz and Dick for “ serving more than 150,000 meals to the seniors of Philadelphia”. Seniors, volunteers, elders, deacons and board of managers members looked on in humble gratitude. For those of you who don’t know, Liz had the idea for the program in 1978 when she noticed the new community center was filled with kids and young adults but no seniors. She also knew the city senior centers were closed on the weekends leaving many with no place to go for food and fellowship on the weekends. A small committee was organized and the invitation went out. 12 seniors showed up that first Saturday and they’ve never had to invite anyone since – word of mouth has brought upwards of 50 seniors every Saturday since. Dick was working in the early days but he still found time to be the cook and has cooked every Thanksgiving meal in the last 31 years. These days, Dick and Liz together plan the menu and shop every week for fresh produce, bread, dessert and miscellaneous necessities. They visit the food bank once a month to stock up on proteins, crackers and snack items. And every November they organize the can drive to re-stock the pantry. Week in and week out…for almost 32 years! Ron Shaffer best summed it up: “The Ostranders are a team with a unique zip code in life identifying them with a special mission program we all know as ‘Saturday for Seniors’. Their years of dedication ranges from soup to nuts: - They are food gathers
- They are food processors
- They are food preparers
- They are food servers
One of the meanings of ‘to cook’ is to act with spirit and excitement. A culinary term that best describes their dedication…. well done.” Well done indeed! Congratulations and thank you Dick and Liz! 
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