Serving Seniors Takes a Stand to #SaveLunch
August 16, 2017 - Paul Downey
Recent confusion around the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts has many Americans in a panic. The Administration issued some budget-related statements that lacked detail, causing misunderstandings nationwide.
Meals on Wheels, which is not a federal program, was specifically called out in budget director Mick Mulvaney’s March speech, where he stated, “We can’t spend money on programs just because they sound good and great, Meals on Wheels sounds great.” Lacking clarity, and delivered all in a single breath, the statement seemed to imply that while Meals on Wheels “sounds great,” it’s not worthy of continued federal funding. While Mulvaney later clarified, during a May speech, that Meals on Wheels and other senior nutrition programs would not be specifically targeted for budget cuts, it was too little too late. The panic had already taken hold.
Budget Cuts to Senior Nutrition Programs
Essentially, Trump’s proposed budget eliminates $3 billion from the Community Development Block Grant program, from which community-development and anti-poverty-focused organizations, like Serving Seniors, receive federal funding. If federal funding for the Community Development Block Grant program or the Department of Health and Human Services is reduced or eliminated, countless organizations will be affected, Serving Seniors included.
We provide nearly 600,000 meals to more than 800 seniors at 9 congregate locations every year. We deliver daily meals to more than 500 home-bound seniors on eleven routes across San Diego county. What will we tell those hungry seniors if we don’t receive the federal funding we need to continue feeding them?
The public demand for senior nutrition programs is most important than ever before. It’s increasingly clear that even “flat” federal funding isn’t good enough. Keeping our senior citizens healthy, independent and active by providing them with regular, nutritious meals is a small step in the right direction, and something that we can act upon now.
Why We Should Continue Funding Senior Nutrition Programs
In California alone 1,000 people turn 65 years old every day, and nearly half of them are reduced to living in poverty. By the year 2030, the United States will be home to 92 million seniors, meaning that a full 25% of the population will be aged 60 or older, with longer life expectancies than ever before. Quite simply, the infrastructure needed on national, state, county and city levels does not exist to support this.
Advocating for federal support that will keep our seniors healthy and fed is the reason Serving Seniors recently participated in the #SaveLunch campaign, along with National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs (NANASP) and Meals on Wheels America. We want to send a message to Members of Congress before the September 30 decision deadline, encouraging them to fund congregate and home-delivered meal programs at the levels required for their continued operation.
It makes good fiscal sense to fund congregate and home-delivered meal programs: it costs taxpayers less money to feed a senior for a year than it costs to treat that same senior for one day in a hospital or ten days in a nursing home. Healthy people use fewer expensive, publicly-funded resources, including ERs, paramedic services and long-term care facilities.
How To Advocate for Senior Nutrition Programs
As part of the advocacy campaign, we had our senior clients write messages about the importance of accessible meals on paper plates. We took photos and shared them online, with the hashtag #SaveLunch, to generate visibility as part of the campaign. Then we delivered the paper plates we collected, nearly 400 of them, to Congressman Scott Peters and Congresswoman Susan Davis and encouraged them to ask other Members of Congress to continue funding and support for congregate and home-delivered meal programs.
It is our hope that by showing our government representatives how deeply we care about feeding and nourishing our low-income seniors, and how much these seniors rely on congregate and home-delivered meal programs, we can send a strong message that will help us achieve the levels of support we need to sustain these lifesaving programs.
Add your voice to the cause: take a photo of your empty lunch plate and share it on your social media accounts with the hashtag #SaveLunch. Then contact your representatives and let them know that feeding our senior citizens matters to all Americans.
See Serving Seniors’ #SaveLunch photos >
Take Action
Email your Member(s) of Congress using Meals on Wheels’ template: mealsonwheelsamerica.org/take-action
Find your representatives’ mailing address or office phone number using NANAPS’s Elected Officials tool: nanasp.org/take-action
Support Our Work
Help us create an inclusive, welcoming environment where impoverished seniors can get the help they need to live with pride and dignity, free of fear and stigmatization.
Older Americans Act Impact
July 19, 2016 - Serving Seniors
The Older Americans act was passed into law 51 years ago this month by President Lyndon B. Johnson. We stand by his belief that “The Older Americans Act clearly affirms our nation’s sense of responsibility toward the well-being of all of our older citizens. But even more, the results of this act will help us to expand our opportunities for enriching the lives of all of our citizens in this country, now and in the years to come.”
In the decades since, the OAA has helped seniors remain independent in their homes and communities. OAA programs provide basic necessities such as meals, home-care, help coordinating long-term care, job training, legal services and protection from abuse and neglect in nursing homes. These programs save taxpayer dollars, by reducing health care expenditures and keep people out of nursing homes and other expensive long-term care settings.
In April of this year, Congress passed and the President signed a reauthorization of the OAA, reaffirming our nation’s commitment to the health and well-being of older adults. This was the latest of many milestones for the law over the last 51 years.
Click here to learn more about earlier milestones and the OAA’s impact on older adults
This post was adapted from an article by Administration for Community Living
Cheers to six years!
May 7, 2016 - Serving SeniorsCelebrating the 6th Anniversary of the Gary and West Senior Wellness Center
More than 100 seniors gathered at the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center today to celebrate the passage of the Older Americans Act (OAA) and the six-year anniversary of the Senior Wellness Center, a community-based health and wellness model of coordinated care located in San Diego that provides seniors access to daily meals and a host of holistic services and supports. 
U.S. Representative Scott Peters, a key congressional supporter of OAA, joined the festive celebration and commended Serving Seniors and the Senior Wellness Center, touting the importance of the Center not only to the seniors here locally, but as a nationwide model.
We were really pleased to reauthorize the Older Americans Act,” said Rep. Peters. “It’s very important—it’s the foundation for the federal government support for what you do here.”
Featuring testimonials from regular clients, songs sung by the “West Singing Seniors,” and a ceremonial toast, the event concluded with every senior receiving a “Hope for Successful Aging” bracelet knotted in the shape of the number eight. Each one symbolizes the reality that every eight seconds someone in America turns 65, and that we should all have the ability to age on our own terms.
Our CEO at the White House
July 14, 2015 - Serving SeniorsWhat does it mean to get older in 2015? The President of the United States convened a group of the nation’s top experts and leaders on older Americans to answer this question at the White House Conference on Aging on July 13. Among those in the group of about 200 attendees was our president and CEO, Paul Downey.
“It was very exciting to be part of the White House Conference on Aging. Sitting in the East Room of the White House listening to an inspirational speech by the President that touched on our core values of assisting seniors in need and doing so with passion was very moving. The rest of the sessions, which included the Secretaries of HHS, Labor, Agriculture and the Surgeon General, were also important because they emphasized the importance of strong and supportive policies for our nation’s seniors.”
Paul Downey, and West Health’s CEO, Shelley Lyford, attended the once-in-a-decade conference, to be part of the conversation about planning for retirement, caring for older loved ones, and working to improve our quality of life as we age.
2015 also marks the 50th anniversary of Medicare, Medicaid and the Older Americans Act, as well as the 80th anniversary of Social Security. These reminders of where we have been helped set the stage for discussions about our booming population of seniors.
“In just about every field, Americans who once might have been dismissed as out of touch or past their primes are making vital contributions in every field. And all of us, as a consequence, are able to raise our own ambitions about what we hope to achieve in our golden years,” said President Obama in his remarks to the group.
More than 70 million Baby Boomers are rapidly aging and putting unprecedented pressure on the long-term care industry. The way caregiving is managed today will not be sustainable for the future, said panelists. Mirian Rose, a senior research analyst at the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging in Cleveland, advocates providing family caregivers with respite care—planned and funded temporary relief.
“Most people don’t have long-term care insurance,” said Rose. “They think Medicare is going to pay for a nursing home or long-term home health services, and that is not true. So there’s a lot of education and more thinking at the policy level that needs to happen.”
About 15 percent of Americans who are over age 65 and who seek out long-term care are living below the poverty level, according to data collected by the Family Caregiver Alliance. The “oldest old”—people over age 85—are among the fastest growing segments of the population, and they are the ones that will need the most support going forward, both financially and emotionally.
“One of the best measures of a country is how it treats its older citizens,” said President Barak Obama in his remarks at the conference. “We have to work to do more to ensure that every older American has the resources and the support they need to thrive.”
The Gary & Mary West Senior Wellness Center was one of four locations in San Diego to host a Watch Party, with the event live-streamed into the Gathering Place as well as the Dining Room for seniors to watch and discuss.
“Perhaps the most important thing from the conference was, at least for a day, the nation (and the media) talked aging policy,” says Paul. We couldn’t agree more.
Finally Some Good News for The Older Americans Act
January 29, 2015 - Serving SeniorsWe’re a step closer to re-authorizing the Older Americans Act. Listen as Paul Downey, President and CEO of Serving Seniors, shares the latest news on OAA and how you can get involved.
