Posted on 03/20/2017 6:25:47 PM PDT by bgill
The administrations proposed cuts target the Department of Housing and Urban Development and call for the elimination of the $3 billion Community Development Block Grant, which helps fund programs including Meals on Wheels, which deliver food (and human interaction) to elderly, disabled and poor recipients. The federal government has spent over $150 billion on this block grant since its inception in 1974, but the program is not well-targeted to the poorest populations and has not demonstrated results,
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Re the $11.06 per day cost ... that may be for two meals. The three people I know who received meals on wheels all got two meals a day. I know (from fundraising efforts) that the MOW organization that served my MIL had a paid head cook, and volunteer drivers received a modest per mile reimbursement for gas. My MIL paid weekly for her meals - I think about $6/day. I think there’s a sliding scale based on income.
You might try asking for fish in your next meal. I hear it is brain food.
Yeah, but ALL Gubmint employees—including Congress critters—get to have a Thrift Savings Plan(TSP) account in addition to SocSec.
The TSP account is basically a way to add to their retirement through investment’s in low to high risk stocks.
So their “outrage” is purely for show!
No. That’s on the volunteers.
Your links:
Richmond, VA - Meals for pets. You’ve GOT to be kidding... And a free microwave and box fan.
San Diego, CA - There’s a $35 fee just to sign up and $4 per meal. Add that to the $11.06/meal so meals are costing over $15. They must be feeding Michelle Obama.
The article states the $11.06 is “per meal.”
The people who receive those meals have to pay for those meals and they cost more than a trip to Burger King.
Plus, volunteers pass them out, which means they use their own gasoline.
So, it sounds like somebody is making a killing if it has cost the American people 150 BILLION since 1974.
I think everyone is missing three central points.
1. This Meals on Wheels program is not a federal or state run program. It is purely a private volunteer situation. As far as I can see, you can’t find anyone in charge at the national or state level. When you do find leadership, it’s purely at the local level.
2. This massive grant given out to the states...allows them to parcel it up and break it down to different organizations. You could have a Meals on Wheels operation in a city of 100,000 getting $100,000 a year for their grant, and in another state....similar sized city which gets $150,000. It’s only because each wrote up their requirement and asked for a particular amount. There is no math to show any equalization.
3. There is no regulations existing within any state or federal gov’t that I know of over Meals on Wheels. Shocking in a way....an operation has managed to grow and be this sized and totally avoid stupid regulations.
Finally, just an observation. Years ago in my military years, I had to sit in a meeting where the wing commander had some episode brew up with the base chow hall. The budget for the chow hall at the time came out to roughly $3.50 a day for each barracks resident. The chow hall had free labor, and all the food bought was tax-free...so this was all very similar in nature to Meals on Wheels. To make it through the last three months of a budget period, the chow hall needed another $100,000 out of thin air to cover their costs. Wing commander didn’t have the money. So they fed everyone for lunch and dinner for that 90-day period mostly chicken. It reached a point half-way through this period that people just stopped going to the chow-hall and bought lunch or dinner out of their own pocket.
Thanks for the great info.
Thank you for your service.
Well, well. Just checked on the suburbs of uber liberal Austin, TX and read on their MOW site that they couldn’t reach half their goal for donated canned soup. Typical. They’ll raise millions to save the Barton Springs Salamander and Univ of TX students bought giant sex toys to protest campus carry but they can’t give a can of soup to grandpa.
[[but it’s still costing a whopping $11.06... That $ amount feeds me 3 meals/day for two days.]]
What the heck do you eat? Flour?
I can see 11 going for maybe two, perhaps 3 meals- but 6?
My dad got on that program in his last years, I think to have some new face at the door as much as for anything else. The meals were OK cafeteria style, but nothing special. Basically what old-school school lunches were before the Wookie attempted to starve American children with silage and refuse.
Yes. And presently, we are.
But I’ve read it’s 3% of meals on wheels funding - that removal should mean cost cutting but not program closure.
Elderly friend of mine was hospitalized for about 10 days, when she came home, she couldn’t get them to STOP sending Meals on Wheels, which to put it mildly, were totally inedible junk. The alleged food they sent was clearly part of a plot to kill off sickly people.
My kittie likes the $1.20/serving Fancy Feast whitefish with a tiny shrimp on top. Better food than meals on wheels provides to humans.
If it was an option, I would completely opt out of social security all together. I can invest MY money in ways I see fit.
Where is the Constitutional provision for Community Block grants?
The thing is a lot of people wouldn’t voluntarily do that seeing that they need that money for their day to day living; then when retirement comes along there’s nothing there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.