Military jet crash in Riverside leads to near disruption in service for “Meals on Wheels” program

It was a shocking scene off the 215 Freeway in Riverside last Thursday afternoon, when an F-16 jet crashed into a warehouse, moments after the pilot ejected.

The impact of the crash was also felt at the Mizell Senior Center in Palm Springs, according to Laura Castillo, the agency’s Director of Nutrition.

“It kind of put a wrench in our operations,” said Castillo.

After the crash, a number of warehouses in the immediate vicinity were closed for 24 hours, for an investigation.

Warehouses which were closed included Sysco, which provides food deliveries to the Mizell Senior Center each weekday.

But last Friday, the delivery to Mizell didn’t happen, meaning the senior center’s staff, that day, was unable to prepare Monday’s 700 meals, 400 of which are delivered to homebound seniors around the Coachella Valley.

“Expectations that our clients have to receive their food on a daily basis is very important to us, so we started making back up plans,” said Castillo.

Castillo says Sysco made a “special” food delivery Saturday, from Riverside to Palm Springs, to get food to the senior center, for preparation and distribtuion Monday morning. Normally, the meals are prepared 24 hours in advance.

The near disruption in food distribution caused by the jet crashing is now leading to the creation of a contingency plan.

Castillo says the senior center is in talks with a food distributor in Beaumont, to rely on as a backup supplier, in the event that food deliveries from Sysco in Riverside are ever disrupted again.

In the seven years she’s been at Mizell, Castillo says they’ve “never missed a meal”, and she says she aims to keep it that way.

“We’ve always provided a meal for our seniors participating in our nutrition program,” said Castillo.