Agencies That Deliver Meals to Seniors Are Starved for Funds
Nonprofit organizations that provide thousands of homebound seniors with what is often their only meal of the day say they are running out of money to keep the food coming.
Social service agency officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties say they may have to limit the number of elderly people they serve if federal funding fails to keep pace with the demand for home-delivered meals.
Federal officials have relied on 1990 U.S. Census Bureau data in making funding decisions for home-delivered meals programs. But those decade-old figures do not accurately reflect the number of needy seniors, providers say.
Once the 2000 census figures are approved, the funding gap should begin to close, advocates for the elderly say. But until then, meal providers will struggle to make ends meet.
For example, the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council, a nonprofit social service agency that contracts with the city of Los Angeles to provide 700 meals a day to homebound seniors, is trying to get the most out of each dollar.
The agency does not rely solely on federal funds funneled to city and county governments but has developed annual fund-raisers that provide a financial cushion.
If the agency relied only on federal funds, officials said, there would not be enough food to go around.
The Interfaith Council received $403,000 in federal funding to run its program for a year. The monthly allotment of $33,358 was enough to cover 8,000 meals; however, the agency served 15,900 meals in December.
“That’s why we need so much more money for the program,†said Irma Nielsen, the agency’s controller.
Marilyn Fried, executive director of the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly, which provides home-delivered meals from its center in Van Nuys to homebound seniors across the Valley, said longer life-expectancy rates should be taken into consideration when social service agencies draft budgets for home-delivered meals programs.
“Funding needs to be looked at with an eye on long-range planning,†she said. “We can see the demand will skyrocket.â€
Increased Funding Still Falls Short
Anticipating an increase in the city’s elderly population, Los Angeles Department of Aging officials this year provided an additional $500,000 to its home-delivered meals program.
Even so, funding fell far short of projections and the department already has overspent its budget by $300,000, said Ann Smith, the department’s general manager.
Volunteer driver Tom Camarillo of North Hollywood sees the need firsthand as he makes his rounds of homebound seniors every weekday from the Interfaith Council’s East Valley Senior Center in North Hollywood.
“Some of the people are so happy to see you because, for some of them, this is their only meal,†said the retired GM mechanic who has delivered meals for 17 years.
On a recent morning, Camarillo’s first stop was at a trailer park off Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. There, he opened the back of the station wagon and picked up a container of sesame chicken, salad, pudding and milk.
Delivering Food and a Sense of Connection
Wanda Heflin, 66, dressed in a bathrobe and slippers, stood in the doorway of her tiny trailer and greeted Camarillo with a broad smile.
“I’m on a limited income and this really helps,†Heflin said. “It’s wonderful.â€
A few minutes later, Camarillo was chatting with Mikelle Hildebrand, a 72-year-old former model, who uses a walker and wheelchair to get around.
It was clear that Camarillo’s visits have come to mean more than just the delivery of food.
“He is so wonderful. I look forward to seeing him every day,†Hildebrand said, rising up on one elbow in her bed. “But sometimes he is so silent, the only way I know he’s been here is when I hear the door close.â€
While Camarillo delivered food in the Valley, paid drivers with the International Institute of Los Angeles brought meals to seniors in Boyle Heights.
The nonprofit agency contracts with the city to provide 270 meals a day, said Estella Mojica, nutrition project director for the agency’s Senior Services Division.
Like the other agencies in the meal-delivery network, the institute is trying to meet a growing need with limited funding.
“The inadequate money not only affects the number of clients that we serve but the paid drivers,†she said. “In this area, there are not many people who can afford to volunteer. They have to get paid.â€
A recent allocation from the city, she said, has helped the agency pay its drivers and begin to pare a 100-person waiting list.
“That has been the history of this program: There is not enough money to meet the need,†Mojica said.
In Orange County, federal funding for the programs has remained the same since 1990, while costs and demand have sharply risen, providers say.
In 1993, $1.2 million in federal funding was allocated for meals provided at senior centers and delivered to homes.
While total funding increased 25% between 1993 and 2000, the providers served 43% more meals, or 1.8 million in fiscal 2000.
This month, the directors of the three Orange County programs will meet with supervisors and county officials to discuss their funding crisis.
The agency officials’ concerns range from run-down trucks and offices to employee turnover and imaginative ways to plan meals that, in most cases, must cost less than $1.30 each.
Orange County officials say the nonprofit organizations--South County Senior Services, Feedback Foundation and Senior Meals and Services--have not provided enough data to support their bid for $250,000 each, but they want to make sure the seniors get their meals.
Finding the money to make the meals, however, is only part of the problem. Providers say they also struggle to keep the drivers, who often leave for jobs with better benefits.
Oggie Barney, 29, climbed into a van on a recent morning and set off on his rounds with meals of salami and cheese sandwiches for lunch and fish and Tater Tots for dinner.
Barney wore baggy shorts and had thick silver rings in his chin, eyebrow and ears. The garb hides his big heart. He spends hours not only delivering meals, but talking with the seniors.
“I went to Homegrocer.com to apply for a job. They pay well--$14 an hour--but [there is] no contact with the customers,†Barney said. “Here, we get close with our clients. We know their moods. You bond with them.â€
Clara Ingle, 92, of Anaheim, eagerly waits for Barney to arrive every weekday.
“He is [my] No. 3 son,†she said. “I’m alone. I don’t go anywhere. I don’t know what I’d do without him.â€
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