Relief Begins to Reach Food Programs

Last summer, Bill Taylor, left, was receiving his food and some company from the Meals on Wheels program in Charleston, W.Va. But rising gas and food prices have crippled the programs that many older Americans rely on. Under terms of the economic Recovery Act, West Virginia, for instance, will receive $455,732 for congregate nutrition and $224,360 for home-delivered nutrition. —Photo by Jeff Gentner/AP Photo

In Louisville, Ky., some 300 older Americans are on waiting lists for hot lunches at community and senior centers throughout the city, and the centers themselves are forced to shut down one day each month because of limited funds. At the Tampa senior nutrition service in Florida, “we stopped taking new clients a year ago,” because of money worries, said Edgar Martinez, who works for the county’s department of aging.

But now, new funds for these programs are at hand—a direct result of the economic stimulus package adopted by Congress last month. Under terms of the economic Recovery Act, the Health and Human Services Department will distribute an additional $100 million to provide nearly 14 million meals to older Americans, including meals served at community centers and delivered to older people who are homebound.

“The stimulus money will mean we can feed seniors every day of the month we are supposed to be open,” said Faith Aeilts, program manager for the Louisville metro area senior nutrition program, which currently serves lunch at 25 sites in the area and delivers meals to another 700 people per day.

With the economy reeling and more older Americans seeking a hot lunch, the strains on Louisville’s budget meant that each center was forced to declare a “furlough day” once a month, and regular visitors were told to go out to a restaurant or stage a potluck for their noontime meal. “The majority of our clients are on a fixed income,” Aeilts said, “and they have wanted meals we just can’t give them. If we don’t open, they just stay home.”

Now, Kentucky is scheduled to receive $1.36 million under the stimulus plan, which Aeilts said will prove vital. “Without additional funding we’d have to cut even more,” she said. “Now we’re going to be able to feed more people.”

As the economy worsens across the country, program managers say more older Americans are seeking food assistance, and that those who might have come just once a month for a hot lunch and some midday conversation are starting to come once or twice a week. Senior nutrition programs, which are open to anyone 60 or older, regardless of income, also create important social and recreational activities and help reduce isolation for many older Americans.

In Hillsborough County, Fla., officials stopped adding new clients to the lunchtime dining programs last year because of budget cuts and a sharp reduction in local property tax revenues, Martinez said. While his program now feeds about 2,500 people each day, another 675 are on the waiting list.

“There are lots of people out there who want this service,” Martinez said. He worries, though, that the one-time boost of $7.2 million in federal monies headed to the state may leave unfulfilled needs later. “We may not have anything to support” additional meals “after this one-shot increase goes away.”

While more older Americans are seeking lunches each day, the costs to provide each meal are going up. “We are working with less money this year, and we could run short,” said Beth Monrial Zatarski, senior meal program director for the Milwaukee County Department on Aging. “We do need more funding to support these programs,” she said. The $1.8 million in additional money Wisconsin will receive “definitely is meaningful for us. And if the economy doesn’t get better, who knows?”

The Recovery Act provides $65 million for meals provided at senior centers and other community sites, $32 million for nutrition services delivered to frail older people at home and $3 million for Native American nutrition programs. States award the funds to organizations that provide nutrition services in their communities.

Even relatively wealthy communities are seeing an upsurge in demand for lunchtime meals from older residents, according to Mary Cummins, who runs the senior nutrition program for the Santa Clara County Social Services Agency, in California’s Silicon Valley. “We’re seeing a big demand across the board,” she said. “Whether that’s economy-driven or not, we can’t really say, but our sites say they see more seniors coming, and clients coming in more frequently.”

There is more demand, she noted, and “the aging population is growing. There’s a natural increase because more and more people are becoming elderly and are living longer.”

Michael Zielenziger writes on business and the economy.