By Paula Span • Posted: The New York Times, The New Old Age Blog, March 28, 2014 When Telma Lopez could earn a modest living cleaning houses, she got along without food stamps. But now that she’s 64, suffers from chronic back pain and relies on Social Security disability benefits, “everything is too much money [...]
Home-delivered and community meals didn’t always taste so good at Meals on Wheels of Bennington County. Executive director Susan Fox recalls witnessing “meals being made from canned meatballs.” And the center wasn’t as welcoming as it is now either. Again Fox remembers, “The dining room was dismal, full of boxes and freezers.” Fox found her [...]
Alysse Anton, Homebound Delivery Program Coordinator at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf implemented the Homebound Delivery Program (HDP) in January 1998 as an alternative food resource for low-income, homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities. Since joining the team in 2008, Alysse Anton, program coordinator for the HDP, has [...]
In February, due to the passage of the Federal Farm Bill, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) saw changes that affect who is provided for through the program. Once a program for seniors and women and children recently off the WIC Program, CSFP is now a seniors-only program. CSFP works to improve the health of [...]
Our low-income seniors are often the most reluctant of our neighbors to ask for or accept help. The data shows that fewer eligible seniors sign up for 3SquaresVT than any other age group. Seniors who use the federal Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) through the Vermont Foodbank often qualify for but are not enrolled in [...]
Imagine for a moment that you’ve been working in a factory for almost forty years. You make enough money to get by: you buy a house, raise a family, and volunteer at the local food shelf. But money is always tight. Saving money for retirement or a vacation is out of the question. Then tragedy [...]