Meals on Wheels is justly celebrated as a cost-effective means of protecting the food security of older and disabled Americans who are unable to shop or cook for themselves. Meals on Wheels America is a nonprofit organization that supports more than 5,000 community programs. While each local program determines the extra services it will offer, they all deliver nutritious meals to vulnerable seniors.
Each year, Meals on Wheels programs deliver 251 million meals to 2.2 million older adults. Research suggests that 25% of older adults are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. Poor nutrition can lead to depression and social isolation. Meals on Wheels combats those risks by assuring that millions of seniors receive a healthy meal each day from a friendly volunteer.
More than nine of ten meal recipients say that the meals help them live independently. In addition to saving seniors from the stress of food insecurity, about 93% of local programs provide seniors with regular opportunities for companionship, including in-person visits and telephone reassurance. About 88% of programs train their volunteers to recognize home safety issues, while half the programs offer home repair and modification services in partnership with the Home Depot Foundation.
Funding for Meals on Wheels
Local Meals on Wheels programs rely on trained volunteers to deliver meals and provide additional services. Many volunteers are older adults who choose to help less fortunate seniors.
While volunteer based, Meals on Wheels incurs expenses to purchase and prepare food, to pay transportation expenses, and to compensate administrative staff. Food recipients typically pay about $2 per meal, but that fee is not sufficient to cover the program’s expenses.
Charitable donations are important to Meals on Wheels’ ability to deliver meals and other services, but the programs also benefit from federal funding. The Meals on Wheels program in California’s Conejo Valley, for example, spends $885,000 each year. Federal funding covers 40% of that cost.
The Older Americans Act mandates federal funding of grants to states that provide nutrition services to seniors. Pursuant to that Act, the Administration on Aging (AOA) operates the Nutrition Services Program. The AOA provides grants “to (1) reduce hunger and food insecurity, (2) promote the socialization of older individuals, and (3) promote the health and well-being of older individuals by assisting them to access nutrition and other disease prevention and health promotion services to delay the onset of adverse health conditions resulting from poor nutrition or sedentary behavior.”
Home-delivered meals are a critical component of the Nutrition Services Program. As Congress explains, home-delivered meals “can be an important service for many family caregivers in assisting them with their caregiving responsibilities as well as helping maintain their own health and personal well-being.”
State Area Agencies on Aging administer grants awarded by the Nutrition Services Program. Meals on Wheels programs receive significant funding from those grants.
Federal Funding Is at Risk
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has canceled grant awards in almost every congressional district. Layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are jeopardizing the government’s ability to track disease outbreaks, conduct medical research, and monitor the safety of food and medicine. Meals on Wheels is likely to be affected by those budget cuts.
The AOA operates under the Administration for Community Living (ACL), a part of HHS. A restructuring of HHS is underway that threatens the elimination of the ACL and the agencies that operate under its purview. Roughly half the ACL’s staff have been laid off and all its regional offices have been closed.
The restructuring and staff reductions threaten to disrupt the funding of Meals on Wheels programs, as well as funding for adult day care, elder abuse prevention, and programs that support independent living. Directors of Meals on Wheels programs have been told that their funding may be delayed because of changes to ACL.
While HHS is bound by the congressional mandate to fund nutrition services programs for older Americans, it is unclear how HHS will discharge that requirement in the absence of a fully functioning ACL. The administration intends to reassign ACL’s responsibilities to other HHS branches, none of which have ACL’s specialized mission and expertise in serving older adults.
Whatever purpose DOGE might serve in eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, there is no evidence of fraud or abuse in the Meals on Wheels programs. Some people might believe it is wasteful to use federal funds to help vulnerable people avoid malnutrition, but promoting the nutritional health of older adults likely saves funds that Medicare or Medicaid would otherwise devote to treating health conditions caused by an inadequate diet.
In addition to drastic staff cuts that jeopardize Meals on Wheels funding, it is unclear whether adequate funding for the programs will be authorized by Congress when its most recent continuing resolution expires on September 30. Congress has yet to reveal, much less authorize, a budget plan that will fund the government after that deadline. Given that one third of Meals on Wheels programs already have a waiting list, any reduction in federal funding will impair the ability of Meals on Wheels to provide the same level of service to seniors who lack the resources to obtain daily nutritious meals.