Author: Christina Campodonico

Area Seniors receive flowers as part of Westside Pacific Villages’ COVID-19 response By Christina Campodonico Last Friday, some area seniors were surprised by an extra special delivery — fresh flowers! After fanning out from Playa del Rey, volunteers delivered around 140 bouquets to seniors in Westchester, Playa Vista, Mar Vista and Ladera Heights. The colorful posies, made possible through a donation by the Delavigne Family of Playa del Rey to up cheer up isolated seniors and support local businesses, were arranged by Culver Boulevard florist Flowers by Felicia and delivered as part of Westside Pacific Villages’ COVID-19 response. The nonprofit is also doing free grocery delivery and pharmacy pickups for area seniors during this time, but WPV’s Executive Director Carol Kitabayashi soon realized that seniors couldn’t live off bread and water alone, so to speak. The idea for weekly care packages came “naturally.” “Once a week, we do a special delivery to the folks … to cheer them up,” said Kitabayashi over the phone last week. “Today, it was a flower delivery.” “Everyone I delivered to lit up when they saw the flowers,” said Darlene Fukuji, a WPV volunteer and President of the Westchester Rotary. “They loved it. They were like, ‘Oh my gosh, flowers! …. I haven’t received flowers in a long time.'” One flower recipient followed up with a grateful message to WPV’s voicemail, recalled Kitabayashi. “This...