ATLANTA — Meals on Wheels Atlanta is struggling to meet the growing demand for food assistance among senior citizens in the metro area due to rising costs and a small amount of government funding.
Channel 2’s Karyn Greer sat down with CEO Charlene Cruscoe-Ingram to talk about what they are doing to keep up with the huge demand.
“Meals on Wheels Atlanta provides medically tailored nutritional meals to over 500 seniors in the Atlanta area,” Cruscoe-Ingram said. “We do two meals a day for them cooked out of our commercial kitchen.”
With costs increasing and more seniors needing assistance, Meals on Wheels Atlanta is working to continue its services.
“We’re getting phone calls from our clients because some of them receive SNAP benefits and they’re concerned that they will not have enough food,” Cruscoe-Ingram explained. “And our response to our clients is, we will get a grocery bag to you. You will not be without food.”
Meals on Wheels Atlanta spends about $5,000 annually to feed one senior — $7 per meal, $14 a day — and the organization currently serves nearly 600 seniors.
This amounts to more than $3 million a year, not including the cost of groceries or other supplies provided to seniors.
“We’re about at 560 seniors when you can sit at two meals a day plus a little shelf stable breakfast box that we provide. It’s costly, you know, for what people are experiencing,” Cruscoe-Ingram said.
The organization is also dealing with a waiting list of 800 seniors who need assistance. Cruscoe-Ingram hopes to serve at least some of them.
“If we are even coming close to pulling seniors off that wait list, we need funds. We need funds in order to do that,” she said.
Meals on Wheels Atlanta continues to seek support from the community to meet the needs of its senior clients. For more information on how to help, including volunteering or donating, visit the organization’s website.
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