SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The group Meals on Wheels delivers hundreds of meals to seniors in Seminole County neighborhoods every week and hundreds more are on a waiting list for the service.
But as President Donald Trump unveiled his proposed federal budget, the service and people who benefit from it are concerned that funding cuts could cause a major belt-tightening.
Meals on Wheels in Seminole County gets about 38 percent of its budget from the federal government and Trump has proposed cutting funds to at least two departments that help the program deliver meals to the elderly.
“It’s shocking,” Meals on Wheels spokeswoman Sherry Fincher said. “It would be devastating if there were cuts for Meals on Wheels.”
Korean War veteran Jessie Wallace starting getting food delivered from Meals on Wheels five years ago when his wife was still alive.
She died several years ago, but Wallace still counts on Meals on Wheels deliveries.
“I don’t have a favorite food, it’s all good,” he said as he waves goodbye to the volunteer who delivered his food.
If funding to the program was cut and his meals stopped coming, Wallace said he’d find a way to get by, but it wouldn’t be easy.
“I’d just have to trust the Lord and he’ll provide it for me,” he said.
Meals on Wheels officials plan to lobby the president and legislators to keep their funding at current levels.
Ideally, Fincher said, the federal government would give more funds to the program so there wouldn’t be a waiting list of 250 people in Seminole County.
Cox Media Group
