White House Didn’t Claim Meals on Wheels Doesn’t Get Results

At an afternoon press briefing at the White House, budget director Mick Mulvaney said many states use CDBG money to fund the programs. But thanks to Meals on Wheels, her freezer is stocked with food for a week. So any cuts are going to have an effect on the amount of service we’re able to provide. Meals on Wheels feeds 2.4 million seniors and 500,000 veterans annually.

“We’re not going to spend it on programs that can not show that they actually deliver the promises that we’ve made to people”, said Mulvaney.

Loveta Evendorf believes the Meals on Wheels of Shawnee and Jefferson Counties, Inc.is full of “wonderful people”.

“We can’t spend money on programmes just because they sound good”, Mulvaney said.

John Skirven is the CEO of Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia – which is the largest Meals on Wheels provider in Hampton Roads.

The program is carried out by a mere 20 paid employees and 125 volunteers. “If we get less funding that is fewer meals we can deliver, fewer services we can provide”, said Rosenfeld.

He said there’s some proof that Meals on Wheels helps reduce seniors’ needs for medication and decreases hospitalization.

“We realize it is unclear what the President’s proposal means for nutrition and aging programs”, Foreman said in an email.

Everyday across the country, Meals on Wheels delivers free, nutritious meals to needy people who are home bound, like 82-year-old Joyce Prewett of Alexandria. If the proposed White House cuts are passed, 37,000 meals – about one month’s worth – would go undelivered in West Michigan next year. “My son was basically helping take care of him, but he works, has a family and so, uh, that was a blessing for him”, she said. “They need that”, Lazutin said.

Meals on Wheels estimates its programs now aid 2.4 million people across the country, including 500,000 veterans nationally per year.

“Why Meals on Wheels programs, who have been struggling with funding provided by the government over the past decade”.

The Trump budget proposal also calls for the elimination of $667 million of federal grants to cities and states for homeland security, including $190 million to New York City alone.

Advocates for lower-income Americans see the president’s proposed spending cuts in his “skinny” budget as an assault. There’s no budget line item for the Older Americans Act or Meals on Wheels, so it’s hard to know exactly how Meals on Wheels would be affected.

Meals on Wheels officials plan to lobby the president and legislators to keep their funding at current levels.

Cohen lambasts the budget for proposing to add to military spending – nearly equivalent to what Russian Federation spends in total on its national defense – to supposedly keep America safe. He said the cuts would be devastating, and he is urging congressional leaders to take action.