Healy Senior Center

About Healy Senior Center

In 1972, a group of Southern Humboldt seniors began to meet for lunch regularly at the grange in Miranda, California. They continued their luncheons for several years, lunching for a few years at the old fire station in Garberville, California and then eventually settled at the Presbyterian Church’s social hall in Garberville. In 1979, this group of local senior leaders formed a non-profit organization called the Senior Center of Southern Humboldt, to benefit older adults living in Southern Humboldt towns. In 1989, the Senior Center of Southern Humboldt, with financial support from the Humboldt Area Foundation, purchased the beautiful home of Patsy Thoresen at 456 Briceland Road in Redway, California to serve as the community’s permanent senior center. The Board of Directors changed the organization’s name in 1996 to the Healy Senior Center, in honor of Dan Healy, Sr., a local businessman who tragically died in a plane crash. Mr. Healy’s son and daughter-in-law, Dan Jr. and Patti, conceived of the annual Giant Yard Sale to benefit the Healy Senior Center. It was first held in their front yard, right across the street from the First Baptist Church of Redway. The Giant Yard Sale still occurs every year in Redway and is a staple in the Southern Humboldt community. In the year 2000, the Healy Senior Center took over the local, certified Meals on Wheels Program from Jerold Phelps Community Hospital and has been operating this critical program ever since. The Healy Center is now serving our third generation of adults over 60. In 2019, we celebrated our 40th year of serving seniors in Southern Humboldt. We would not have been able to help so many seniors without support from local foundations, businesses, friends, and neighbors.