The Humboldt Senior Resource Center (HSRC) has successfully provided services to Humboldt County seniors for more than 50 years. At the heart of HSRC’s success is our mission: “Older adults in Humboldt County will experience a high quality of life — defined by dignity, health, and self-determination — within a community that values respect, inclusion, and compassion.” This mission guides the board of directors, staff, and volunteers.
In 1974, HSRC was created because of the need for services for the 16,000 elderly people living in Humboldt County. Within 10 years, services that HSRC provided to the community included meals for seniors, home health care, adult day health, elder-focused information and resources, senior home repair, and Senior News.
From its inception, HSRC has served older adults and their caregivers throughout northern Humboldt County and beyond. The agency’s first nutrition site opened in Crescent City in November 1975; the Arcata nutrition site opened one month later. The Orleans/Weitchpec and Eureka Nutrition programs opened in 1976. The Adult Day Health program was started in the basement of Eureka’s old Washington School building in 1983, moved to a new building across the street in 1987, and opened a second location in Fortuna in 1988.
As additional needs were identified, HSRC worked to address them, often by adding new programs. HSRC grew “from a single information and referral program to an array of outstanding programs and services used by thousands of Humboldt County seniors and their families each year,” then-Executive Director Mary Beth Wolford stated on HSRC’s 25th anniversary in 1999.
Growth continued in the ensuing years with the additions of the new Alzheimer’s Services and Center in 2009 and the opening of the Redwood Coast PACE, the first rural Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly in California, in 2014. Despite the challenges of the COVID era, HSRC opened its new Fortuna Adult Day Health & Redwood Coast PACE Center and launched a new Behavioral Health program in 2021, and used the mandated shutdown of its center to update and rebrand its senior dining centers as Heritage Cafés. Growth continued after COVID when the MSSP service area expanded to all of Humboldt County in 2022, and Heritage Café mobile meal pick-up sites were introduced in 2024. To meet growing demand, the Redwood Coast PACE Arcata Center opened in 2025.
Humboldt Senior Resource Center celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014, and published a special edition of Senior News (click on link to view) to mark the occasion. The agency’s 50th Anniversary in 2024 was celebrated with a community block party, and a timeline was included in the May issue of Senior News noting the accomplishments in its fifth decade.
Necessity is the mother of reinvention. This has been true for HSRC since its inception more than 50 years ago. To continue as a strong community partner committed to our ever-increasing population of older adults and those who care for them, the agency continues to adapt to this changing landscape. We anticipate we will be supporting healthy aging for many years to come.