Meals on Wheels sees donation surge after Trump proposes funding cuts

Meals on Wheels is a national a program that provides hot meals for seniors and it could take a hit under President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget. The Times cites peer-reviewed studies in the medical field that found that Meals on Wheels helped ease diet issues, food insecurity, and even contributed to a lower loneliness scale for senior adults.

Federally funded elderly meals programs serve about 2.4 million people annually, according to Meals On Wheels America.

While noting elderly people should still receive meals provided by the program, Flores said he would think Meals on Wheels officials would want clients to find work.

Osceola’s chapter It is part of the larger Meals on Wheels Association of America, which has more than 5,000 programs with two million volunteers. “I wish they would give them more money so I could get three meals a day, but you have to take what they give you, and appreciate that”, said Harris.

“Quite honestly we were all surprised here, we feel our services save taxpayers money in the long run”, said Thad Rosenfeld with Meals on Wheels Central Texas.

For the first time Meals on Wheels-San Antonio hit over one million meals served past year.

Sandles said if the money is cut, she will try to keep the program running by cutting other programs.

The budget was unrolled this week by President Donald Trump’s administration and includes the elimination of the $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program.

“And they bring you good food that’s healthy”, she said Friday at her home in Topeka.

It means $20,000 lost for the Lehigh County Meals on Wheels program.

Those programs are authorized though the Older Americans Act, a law so popular that its renewal passed Congress a year ago without any recorded opposition.

“When you see people going from sickness to health it’s the greatest thing you can do”, Calvin Harris, Open Kitchens, home delivered meals driver, said. Meanwhile, Quartz notes that for the $16.5 million taxpayers are estimated to have paid for President Trump’s five trips to Mar-a-Lago this year, Meals on Wheels could feed almost 6,000 seniors for a full year.

Funding for Meals on Wheels of Shawnee and Jefferson Counties, Inc., comes from client contributions, City of Topeka, fundraisers, grants, memorials, Older Americans Act-Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging, private contributions, Shawnee County and United Way of Greater Topeka, according to the organization’s website.

Mike Mulvaney, director of Office of Management and Budget, defended the budget when asked if it was “hard-hearted” to those in need.

Planned Parenthood received 300,000 individual donations in the six weeks after Trump’s election, 40 times its usual rate, per The Guardian, and many made their donations under Vice President Mike Pence’s name. “Local programs fundraise individually, and we can assume that there was likely a groundswell of local support, as well”, she said.