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Mostly Cloudy Struggling to serve the neediest
County cuts could destroy Meals on Wheels
As part of its effort to reduce the budget without raising taxes, Nassau County announced last month that it would be cutting contracts with many organizations. Among those was the Meals on Wheels program run on the South Shore by Catholic Charities.
Although the numbers are not yet set in stone, Catholic Charities could lose about $100,000 of the $360,000 in discretionary funding the county gives the program. But it could also lose all of it.
“The [Meals on Wheels] program was over $200,000 last year — it was about $212,000 last year — this year we’re going to have a contract of about $107,000,” said Eileen Verity, director of senior services and nutrition programs for Catholic Charities. “That just decimates the program, because where do you supplement?”
Catholic Charities’ Meals on Wheels program services the entire South Shore of Nassau County — from Elmont to Farmingdale. The Visiting Nurse Association of Long Island runs the program on the North Shore and receives similar funding from the county. The program delivers meals to homebound seniors and others who can’t leave their homes to purchase their own food or are able to prepare it.
Most of the program’s funding comes from state and federal money which is funneled down through the county. But through a contract with Catholic Charities, the county contributes an additional $360,000 to the program in discretionary funding.
That money will most definitely be cut by the county. “Originally they were talking about making a $360,000 cut to our program alone,” said Verity. “It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, but we don’t have a final letter yet. We don’t know when we get a letter.” The county is reported to be sending out these letters of decision on April 16.
Verity is concerned about what the cuts could do to the program, which has seen increasing need as of late. “Our need increases every day,” she said. “We’ve been getting about 150 seniors calling for help a month. That’s not just Meals on Wheels — that goes to our case management program as well. But it used to be 40 or 50 a month.”
