Meals on Wheels donations surge after funding cuts proposed

Meals on Wheels is an infinitesimal part of the CDBG budget, and federal funding is a tiny portion of the Meals on Wheels budget. Even before the budget’s release, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., tweeted that Trump had called for the “elimination” of Meals on Wheels, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus quickly dubbed it the “Starvation Budget”.

Senior meal programs across the county are keeping a close eye on the budget proposed by the Trump administration. Teri Fiore has been at the helm of Open Kitchens for 30 years and she is troubled by talk of possible budget cuts to the program by President Trump.

Agencies in Syracuse that provide services to vulnerable residents are finding that they, themselves, might be vulnerable to severe cuts in funding under President Trump’s budget blueprint.

It suggests eliminating $3 billion in Community Development Block Grant funds and funding for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

“We know that this budget proposal is only the beginning and we have our work cut out for us in the coming months”, Bertolette said. “Some of these details we won’t know for a while”.

Meals On Wheels says the threat of budget cuts could not come at a worse time. CEO Vinsen Faris says it receives about $300,000 from that pot of money.

And Tammy Lemmer who helps run the local program says Meals on Wheels is about more than preventing hunger. “I will fight to ensure that these proposed cuts to medical research funding never make it into law”.

The national association said it’s comprised of 5,000 local, community-based programs and gets 35 percent of its funding to provide home-delivered meals from the federal government’s Older Americans Act, which is administered by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Robillard added that based on the uptick in community engagement, “It is clear that many Americans feel strongly that taking care of homebound seniors and the elderly is a clear morale and economic imperative”.

“We should be increasing funding to Meals on Wheels because the need is there and, if you look at the cost savings vs the alternative, it just makes good fiscal sense to do that”, Rosenfeld said. We can not defend that anymore. And great, Meals on Wheels sounds great.

What if, Acosta surmised, they had elderly parents who depended on programs like Meals on Wheels? “These meals keep them at home, keep them safe, keep them healthy, and out of the hospital”. In total, the director says they serve approximately 750 meals a day.