13 Million Seniors are Hungry

Dear Leading Ladies,

My friend looks forward to the delivery of her Meals on Wheels. It’s not just the food, which is admittedly pretty good and means she doesn’t have to cook for herself. It’s the friendly face and the chance to chat, since my friend lives alone and can no longer drive. She has friends, sure, but many of them no longer drive either. Since her spouse died, isolation and loneliness bring a daily sadness that is sometimes broken up only by the visits of the food deliverer.

Now, the Meals on Wheels program is at risk.

Meals on Wheels

What and why?

• Meals on Wheels is a nonprofit organization (501c3) devoted to combatting senior hunger and isolation.

• The first Meals on Wheels in the US was in Philadelphia, founded by a social worker in 1954 at the request of the Philadelphia Health and Wellness Council and funded by a private foundation.

• Today, the program operates in 5,000 communities throughout the country and serves more than 2 million seniors.

• That comes to 251 million meals served annually.

• Still, nearly 13 million seniors in the US are threatened by or experience hunger (according to Meals on Wheels).

• Food insecurity disproportionally affects older adults of color (according to Meals on Wheels).

• There is a waiting list of at least 2.5 million people.

• Evidence-based research confirms the positive effects on health and nutrition as well as decrease in the sense of isolation and loneliness.

Who pays?

• The cost of meals to seniors runs on a sliding scale from free to full price; no senior is denied because of inability to pay.

• Medicare does not pay for Meals on Wheels.

• 37% of the funding for Meals on Wheels comes from the federal government (primarily through the Older Americans Act (OAA) Nutrition Program administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services HHS).

• Meals on Wheels also receives support from federal block grants administered through states and locally, such as the Social Services Block (SSBG) and the Community Development Block (CDBG).These amounts can vary widely by location.

• The balance comes from charitable foundations and private donors.

• In some areas, Meals on Wheels volunteers are paid to deliver the food; in others, they are not.

• There are many paid workers who prepare food, fundraise, and administer the program.

• The CEO earns $580,000. By comparison, the CEO of Red Cross makes $694,000 and the CEO of Feeding America makes $959,665.

Meals on Wheels

The possible future

• As of last week, and as part of the Republican efforts to cut the federal budget, the Trump administration threatened to slash HHS funding, which would undoubtedly end Meals on Wheels .

• This blueprint might also slash the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) as well as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and Medicaid, increasing demand for Meals on Wheels. The entire staff who oversaw SSBG have already been fired, according to reports from The Guardian.

• The Beverly Meals on Wheels program, housed at the Beverly Senior Center, provides more than 200 meals per day, according to director Jan Ludas.

• As in other communities, some volunteers — drivers and those in the kitchen — are paid and others work for free.

• Ludas is more than a little worried about the potential cut in funding. “If the program is cut, it will be so bad for the seniors in our community — people who can’t take care of themselves.” It is “absolutely” necessary for Meals on Wheels to remain funded, she says.

• When I asked what the average resident can do to help, Ludas offered no suggestions. The only solution is to “not cut the program.” She sounded discouraged and a little hopeless.

• “We’re talking about lives here so it’s worrisome to me,” Ellie Hollander, president and CEO of Meals on Wheels America, told The Guardian. “Some of our programs are already operating on razor-thin budgets and are pulling from their reserves. [If funding goes away], it could result in some programs having to close their doors.”

Is there anything we can do?

• There are several corporate donors to Meals on Wheels, Subaru first among them. If you have connections to a potential large donor, share the facts about food insecurity among senior citizens with them.

• Become a volunteer for Meals on Wheels. There are programs in most communities. Right here in Essex County, there are programs in Beverly, Lynn, Gloucester, Hamilton, Salem, and more,

• Write to your senators and representatives. If they are Democrats, they are probably already voting against these cuts, but it never hurts for them to hear from their constituents just how important these issues are to them.

• Share this letter with friends and relatives. People need to stay informed and enraged. We can’t take these autocratic moves against our neighbors without making some noise. Recent statistics indicate that 7.8% of seniors over 60 are threatened by food insecurity in Massachusetts. That number will rise exponentially if Meals on Wheels shuts down due to lack of funding.

• Work for Democratic candidates struggling to flip the House and Senate in the midterms and hope it won’t be too late for the millions of older mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, veterans and chronically ill who depend on services such as Meals on Wheels.

My friend and millions of others deserve better.

All the best,

Therese (she/her/hers)
Judy (she/her/hers)
Didi (she/her/hers)
Leading Ladies Executive Team
Leadingladiesvote.org
ladies@leadingladiesvote.org