Senior Nutrition Programs Get $30M More In Funding Next Year. Meals On Wheels America CEO Says That's Still Not Enough

Within the $1.4 trillion budget deal that Capitol Hill lawmakers sent to President Trump late last week is a $30 million increase in funding for senior nutrition, reports WBUR-TV . The bipartisan deal allocated an additional $15 million to both congregate and home-delivered meals. That brings the total funding for senior nutrition under the Older Americans Act to $936.8 million. Advocates lament that is still not sufficient to meet the needs of over nine million seniors at risk of going hungry in the United States. Meals on Wheels, the network of local delivery programs that turn those federal dollars into hot and frozen meals, serves approximately 220 million meals to more than two million seniors annually. Over 5,000 independently-operated programs nationwide bring meals directly to seniors' doorsteps. But those programs are serving 21 million fewer seniors than they were 14 years ago. When adjusting for inflation, nutrition services under the Older Americans Act have actually dropped by 8 percent since 2001, an AARP report calculates.