Comunicados de Prensa

San Juan – The administrator of the Public Housing Administration (AVP), Juan A. Rosario Hernández, along with the attorney of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Elderly (OPPEA), Dr. Yolanda Varela, announced an initiative through which hundreds of seniors living in AVP residential developments will receive educational talks and a $100 food voucher. The initiative is called "For the Love of My Village, I Feed My Senior."

According to administrator Rosario Hernández, who participated alongside the attorney general in a series of radio interviews to announce this new initiative, beginning on Radio Isla and Telemundo with journalist Milly Méndez, “This is the first time our administration has had a program like this aimed at our seniors. In the public housing system I manage, they represent 18% of the population. Often, they feel alone, abandoned by their children and relatives. That's why, together with OPPEA, we have managed to raise the necessary funds for training in proper nutrition, low-impact exercises so they can feel useful, and at the end, we will provide them with a $100 shopping voucher, as a way of helping those who made Puerto Rico today.”

For her part, Attorney General Varela stated, "When I began my tenure at OPPEA, we took on the task of censusing our adult population, and it totals nearly one million seniors. This represents almost 30% of Puerto Rico's population. I undertook the task of visiting our multi-service centers, where we offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in approximately 60 municipalities. But we saw that it wasn't enough. Therefore, we obtained federal funding to provide them with an additional incentive and guidance on personal care. This is how this joint initiative was born, and we will be in all 328 hamlets in Puerto Rico, providing guidance, offering talks, and providing these vouchers for food purchases."

This initiative will begin at the Manuel Egipciaco residential complex in Aguada, where Dr. Varela was raised and educated, and will expand to all 10 Public Housing regions with the goal of ensuring that it serves seniors 65 and older in all 328 residential complexes on the island.