Meals
Breakfast is served Monday and Friday from 9:00 to 10:00 in the morning. Lunch is Tuesday and Thursday from 11:30 to 1:00 and includes a salad bar. Both are available to dine in or take out.
Seniors over 60 are asked for a suggested donation of $5.00, which covers the salad bar. The cost for anyone under 60 is $6.00, plus a dollar for the salad bar. Coffee, tea, lemonade and water are self serve.
Reservations are not required but are appreciated, and they help the kitchen judge how much to cook. The number is 775-372-5413.
Home delivery
Meals are delivered to residents who are homebound, and frozen meals go out on Fridays to cover the weekend. Deliveries are arranged by phone through the senior center.
Commodities, the second Monday of the month
The commodities distribution is the largest thing that happens at the center, and it is not limited to seniors. Commodities are food products distributed to anyone in the valley who needs them, sourced from the USDA, the Nevada Division of Aging and Three Square.
Recipients form a line and sign in at the senior center, then walk to the commodities building, take a shopping cart and push it through to collect what they need. Family sizes range from one person to ten.
Many of the volunteers handing out the food are themselves receiving it.
The thrift store
A thrift store operates next door to the senior center. It opens Fridays from 10:00 to 3:00, and again on the second Monday of each month while commodities are being distributed, so both can be done in one trip.
The senior center can answer questions about current stock and about donations.
Other activities
Pool runs Monday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00. Arts and crafts meet Wednesday afternoons from 2:00 to 4:00, which is worth noting because the kitchen is closed Wednesdays and the building is often assumed to be closed with it. Friday evenings bring pool and a potluck dinner from 5:30 to 9:00.
Transportation
The Pahrump Senior Center runs transportation for residents 60 and over. Tuesdays cover shopping and appointments in Pahrump, with a $5.00 suggested donation. Thursdays run to Las Vegas for medical appointments only, with a $30.00 suggested donation. Appointments booked before noon allow the driver to carry more than one passenger and still return by 4:00.
The service is run out of Pahrump, so rides are scheduled at 775-727-5008 rather than through the Amargosa number.
Who runs it
The Senior Center is operated by Amargosa Seniors, Inc., a nonprofit, rather than by the town or the county. A board of seven volunteers governs it, with a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer plus three additional members. The board meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 10:00 in the morning at the center, and the public is welcome to attend.
The valley built the commodities building itself
Before the building existed, the distribution ran in the parking lot under temporary shade structures, with volunteers working in temperatures above 110 degrees in summer and in the low 40s in winter.
The building cost more than $80,000, and the money came from the valley. Acres Cannabis contributed $5,000, as did A-1 Secured Storage, US Ecology Nevada, School Lane Orchard and Vineyard, Weitman Trucking, First Solar, Longstreet Inn and Casino, and Valley Electric Association. It was completed in June 2019.
Meals and commodities are open to the whole valley
Meals are delivered to residents who are homebound, and the monthly commodities distribution is open to anyone in Amargosa Valley who needs it.