HUNGRY SENIORS WAITING LIST LONG (2/12/15)

     Before anyone can actually feed a person through one of Atlanta's three agencies, interviews are conducted by visits to households "...to establish need."  Many of  the older citizens in Georgia are living in horrible conditions.The list continues to grow.

     "One of the seniors on our waiting list often splits food with a grandson in her care," said Jeff Smythe, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels Atlanta.  "The day I visited, she was eating the outside of a corn dog, and had given the inside to the child before school.  It was the only thing they had to eat that day."

     Smythe and others like Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed find it unacceptable that seniors have to live in hunger, and are doing things to solve it.

     "Feeding people in need is the most important thing that we do in this city," said Mayor Reed.  "As cities go---kitchens like the ones at our agencies are really our soul." 

     Seniors aren't just hungry, they need assistance.  

 

     Charlene Crusoe-Ingram, a board rep from Meals on Wheels, said many need small things like assistance operating a can opener, or taking garbage from the house to the curb.  "To think that some frail senior in our beautiful city will not eat today because they cannot open a can of corn, it breaks my heart," said Ingram. 

     Mayor Reed points-out that the waiting list, now over 350 strong at all of the agencies, is proof that everyone in our city should be committed to help.   "We know there's a greater need out there, beyond the lists, more people than ever before," said Reed.  "We're going to fix this by being the best versions of ourselves."  

     Meals on Wheels has been serving the hungry for 50 years.  That's over 4.5 million meals to people in need. 

     Larry Tatts is the Director of Operations for the Atlanta facility. " In my job I know that there are people we're not feeding that I'd like to feed," said Tatts.  "So what you do is keep your food costs lower so you can feed more people."  The quality and nutrition of the meals has remained the number one goal.  The future would provide choices for seniors who are on restricted diets. 

     Another cost-saving measure---volunteers deliver meals, leaving staff at the agencies to  concentrate on resourcing.  "The more we save, the more we can feed," said Tatts.

     Meals on Wheels, Project Open Hand, and Senior Connections help feed the hungry of Atlanta, please go to the organization website to give.

---Ray Macon