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Food banks looking for funding from lawmakers
Food assistance programs in Florida are struggling to keep their bank accounts full. The nonprofits are asking lawmakers to help keep food on the table for families hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Meals on Wheels organizations have faced challenges as they work to feed seniors in communities nationwide.
Volunteers with the organization pack and deliver meals to seniors at home. President and CEO of Meals on Wheels America said they have seen a dramatic increase in need.
"When we did a survey of our meals on wheels programs we found that we were serving 77% more meals as an aggregate network, and to 47% more seniors than we were previously," said Ellie Hollander.
She said they are not only seeing more need from current residents they serve but also new faces are calling out for help.
"We’ve seen a huge demand for an increase in the need for meals from a whole new pipeline of seniors who are rendered homebound," she said.
Many of their volunteers -- who are typically seniors -- are sheltering at home to protect themselves from the virus. Staff is taking on that work leading to long hours.
At the Daytona Beach chapter, president Sarah Gurtis said their organization lost 100 volunteers. She explained that last week they served 700 more meals than the same time frame last year.
"Seven hundred is a huge number when you consider it’s per week and we’re going it in the midst of losing 100 volunteers because they too are seniors now sheltering at home," she said.
Hollander said spurts of cash from federal relief packages have given life to the program for a total of $925 million.
She said, however, the need for more financial support is still high given the increase in demand. A demand that existed even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Resources have always been tight. There’s never been enough resources to meet the demand for Meals on Wheels and this was prior to COVID-9 hitting," she said.
Gurtis said private donations help fill that gap along with more volunteers.
"Donations allow us to put it to our greatest need so if we get a call tomorrow from a senior and we know that they need meals and they need them now we will start them immediately," she explained.
Meanwhile, Hollander said leaders at the top of the organization are hopeful Congress will continue to include money for their program in the relief packages.
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