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Gas, food prices affecting Meals on Wheels for seniors
KTRK-TV ^ | May 6, 2011 | Deborah Wrigley

Posted on 05/07/2011 5:43:36 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

HOUSTON -- With prices teetering around $4 a gallon for gasoline across the country, a lot of Americans are making sacrifices. Gas prices have gotten so high that hundreds of elderly residents in our area who depend on Meals on Wheels could be the ones paying the price.

Five days a week, meals arrive at the homes of some 500 seniors in Fort Bend and Waller counties. Meals on Wheels has long fed those whose Social Security is all they have.

"Kind of balance it so we can have medication and meals and it has helped me a lot," said Ziola Sanchez.

So that's why one modest hot meal a day is so important. But the cost of providing and delivering them is going up along with food and gas prices.

"In the past, you know there's been issues with fuel, but they have never hit us all at the same time," said Manuela Arroyas of Fort Bend Meals on Wheels.

It's also affecting transportation to and from Fort Bend senior centers, but the Meals on Wheels program is most vulnerable. State and federal money that account for much of the budget may be reduced by 25 percent this year, so no new clients are being added.....

(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Local News; Society
KEYWORDS: energy; food; gas; seniors
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Why do the Republicans and Tea Partiers hate old people? /s
1 posted on 05/07/2011 5:43:42 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Here's for down sizing...


2 posted on 05/07/2011 5:55:10 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If they didn’t make provision for their old age in their working years, to hell with them!


3 posted on 05/07/2011 6:02:11 AM PDT by dalereed
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To: HangnJudge


4 posted on 05/07/2011 6:17:50 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and never succeed. (Proverbs 12:24))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Allow me to channel Nancy Pelosi...

“Due to Obama’s inaction on gas prices, hundreds of millions of seniors will go hungry tonight. Five million will die every hour.”


5 posted on 05/07/2011 6:29:52 AM PDT by bolobaby
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To: dalereed
If they didn’t make provision for their old age in their working years, to hell with them!

My parents had over $1.5 million saved up for their retirement. Between hospitals and nursing homes for my dad (RIP), it is all gone.

And you say "to hell with them"

To hell with you.

6 posted on 05/07/2011 6:36:50 AM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good-Pope Leo XIII)
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To: dalereed; markomalley

As bad as my wife and I have it, some have it even worse. There’s a 59 year old lady downstairs who doesn’t have electricity. Try that sometime in South Mississippi. Meals-On-Wheels should be a charity, not a government sponsored program, but those seniors paid into Social Security and Medicare on the promise they’d be taken care of. Just like Tricare and VA, this government lies to the people while the lowest paid member of congress makes $175,000 a year plus Rolls-Royce benefits.


7 posted on 05/07/2011 6:52:43 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and never succeed. (Proverbs 12:24))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Meals-On-Wheels should be a charity, not a government sponsored program,

Exactly, but that's a whole lot different than saying "to hell with them"

8 posted on 05/07/2011 7:03:54 AM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good-Pope Leo XIII)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This is what you get when the corn goes into the gas tank instead of people’s stomachs. And when you have a Marxist for a prez who is bound and determined to DESTROY this country from the inside out.

The ‘new soup line’...i.e. Commodity lines has doubled or nearly tripled in my area of FRAIL, very old seniors, what do they get a few cans of fruits and veggies. Maybe 2 weeks worth. Food stamps $10-30 depending on their SS income.

While the ILLEGALS get the full treatment of free food, rent, medical care along with education for their kids all while paying only sales tax. TN has no IT. But they don’t pay Fed IT on their unreported under the table income.


9 posted on 05/07/2011 7:08:01 AM PDT by GailA (2012 rally cry DEMOCRATS and RINOS are BAD for the USA!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
And returning to a lighter note...

That is just weird, and a 50cc engine, and drivable
You can go a long way at 20 mph, if you are patient
How very... efficient
But the bed looks painful
And, to put it delicately, where do you pee?
Perhaps a bottom discharge...


10 posted on 05/07/2011 7:11:16 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: markomalley

Yes, did you read the rest of my post? There’s a poor old lady downstairs from us who can’t afford electricity! So she is basically living in the 19th Century, except for her running water & flush toilet. She has no HVAC, no hot showers, TV, radio, phone, oven, stove or microwave. That’s how we lived here during Katrina and I don’t look back on that with fondness, I assure you! At the same time, we have hundreds of able-bodied people living here in their 20’s thru 50’s who don’t ever go to work yet seem to have enough money for cigarettes, malt liquor, bar-b-ques, cell phones, designer clothing and cars with expensive rims. What’s up with that?


11 posted on 05/07/2011 7:11:22 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and never succeed. (Proverbs 12:24))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Yes, did you read the rest of my post?

Yes, and I agree with it.

Lazy bums living off the dole.

Problem is that there are illegals who are willing to do the low paying jobs so the salaries won't ever rise in response to the laws of economics to be better than what can be made sitting on their asses.

12 posted on 05/07/2011 7:17:58 AM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good-Pope Leo XIII)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
What’s up with that?

It is a temporary aberration
Unfortunately, within 3-5 years, TSHTF
I suspect 10’s of millions in the US will die
possibly, a third of the population
And our current luxuries will be a fading memories

Oh yes, those people with barbecues, and malt liquor
will accelerate the process, taking down society with them

13 posted on 05/07/2011 7:18:23 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: dalereed

Try doing that on sub par wages, when your husband is in the Military for 20 years. What little we have been able to save has been eaten up with higher food prices, higher fuel cost, interest on what little we could save dropped from 5% under GW to 1% or less when the Marxist hit the WH.

We lived pay check to pay check, still managed to put a few $$ away most months, but it does not take many set backs to see it disappear.

Many people like us DID make provisions, they didn’t count on the Marxist taking it away from them. And we sure didn’t vote for him, we held our noses and voted for McCain more for Palin than him, because we knew who the ‘real’ conservative was. And it sure wasn’t Jaun McNasty.

How many’s peoples 401’s have vanished under this Marxist?


14 posted on 05/07/2011 7:19:12 AM PDT by GailA (2012 rally cry DEMOCRATS and RINOS are BAD for the USA!)
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To: dalereed

Many of the elderly, though able to afford meals, are unable to actually prepare them for themselves. Meals on Wheels is a lifesaver and depending on the area, receives some government funding while requesting donations from the seniors they serve, and accepting other donations.

My mother made use of her local Meals on Wheels and I’m forever grateful for their services. I believe it literally prolonged her life for a good year or more and she was able to stay in her own home and be self-sufficient, something that was important to her.

If there is anyone who wants to be useful, contact your local Meals on Wheels and volunteer for a month or so. It’s a solid way to actually do some help in the community and see the results of your action in real time. You will be saving lives.


15 posted on 05/07/2011 7:23:08 AM PDT by Auntie Mame (Fear not tomorrow. God is already there.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t have a problem with charity for elderly people who are low on finances. My question is: what was the situation before Meals On Wheels? Were old people dying off from starvation by the thousands every week? What gives?


16 posted on 05/07/2011 7:33:55 AM PDT by driftless2 (For long-term happiness, learn how to play the accordion.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Obama’s already said that these people just need to trade in their old gas thirsty vehicles. If it means a few more seniors die, then so be it.


17 posted on 05/07/2011 7:40:42 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (The last Democrat worth a damn was Stalin. He purged his whole Party.)
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To: GailA

“when your husband is in the Military for 20 years.”

Does he not recieve a retirement pension for his years of service?


18 posted on 05/07/2011 7:54:51 AM PDT by KantianBurke (Hey Tea Party folks - what about Social Security reform?)
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To: driftless2
Were old people dying off from starvation
by the thousands every week?

Yes...
But so were/are millions of people
who are not “elderly”
Acts of Kindness and Love are
More important than survival

Be Kind one to another
Tenderhearted and Forgiving one another
Are not just pretty words

Death is preferable to living when this is lost
and Faith without Works is dead

Or in the Immortal words of Kennedy
Ask not what the country can do for you
Ask what you can do for your Country

http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/John_F_Kennedy/5.htm

Most ones here on this site understand this...
Meals on Wheels can be an example of this
Giving to Widows and Orphans
It can be a fitting Stewardship of that we have been entrusted with

Death comes to us all in time, earlier or later
It is not such a great thing
Not Loving however is... Horrible

All I ask is that it be an act of free will
Not under compulsion of Law
Or an extension of Governmental Taking (tax money)

19 posted on 05/07/2011 8:26:56 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: driftless2
I don’t have a problem with charity for elderly people who are low on finances. My question is: what was the situation before Meals On Wheels? Were old people dying off from starvation by the thousands every week? What gives?

I am a volunteer for Meals on Wheels and I pack food boxes at a local charity. The elderly that we serve are homebound and we are the only people they see. Not only do we serve a hot meal a day to them, but we also notice if they need special assistance or medical issues that we can report.

Remember that there used to be a time when families took care of their elderly, now they can't be bothered.

There for the grace of God go I.

20 posted on 05/07/2011 8:43:56 AM PDT by Mountain Bike Vomit Carnage (Live every week like it's Shark Week!)
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