Jason Maciejewski (00:00):
Welcome to Inside The Senior Alliance, a podcast exploring resources and issues in the field of aging. I’m Jason Maciejewski, CEO at The Senior Alliance, the Area Agency on Aging, serving Western Wayne County and downriver. Joining me today are Nikki Hartley, our Government Relations Assistant, and Emma Case, our Planning and Advocacy Assistant. Nikki and Emma, thank you for joining me today.
Nikki Hartley (00:19):
Thank you for having us, Jason.
Emma Case (00:20):
Thank you Jason.
Jason Maciejewski (00:21):
So on this episode, we’re going to talk about hunger and nutritional need amongst older adults in our community. This is what inspired The Senior Alliance to pursue Give Hunger a Holiday, a fundraiser to help us support our holiday meals program and some of our other initiatives. And as a nonprofit agency, you know, our mission is to assist people to thrive as they live, age and grow. So we’re focused on the desired people to live in the community that they choose, and Give Hunger a Holiday fuels that by providing meals to people who are isolated in their own homes or maybe don’t have the ability to prepare their own meals anymore. And Emma, you work with a variety of our nutrition programs on a daily basis. So what have you seen in terms of need amongst older adults and how our work addresses the issue of hunger?
Emma Case (01:06):
So the University of Michigan National Poll on Aging surveyed a national sample of US older adults aged 50 to 80 regarding food insecurity. Food insecurity is defined as the difficulty in acquiring access to food due to lack of money. They found that in Michigan, one in seven older adults struggle with food insecurity and it’s higher among adults in their late fifties and early sixties than other ages. 42% of those, one in seven older adults reported having severe food insecurity, meaning they reduced the quality and or quantity of the food due to limited resources. Food insecurity is also linked to lower physical and mental health among older adults. At The Senior Alliance we unfortunately see many cases of food insecurity among the older adults in our service area. To alleviate this issue, over 3,000 meals are provided daily across Western Wayne County and downriver through our nutrition programs such as Home Delivered Meals and Congregate Meals, Liquid Nutrition, which operates monthly to provide medically tailored liquid meals. We also provide Halal Home Delivered and Congregate Meals to the Arab American population in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. And we connect older adults to monthly shelf stable food options such as Gleaners and Focus Hope and other pantries. Lastly, holiday meals, which is served during Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas with the help of The Senior Alliance.
Nikki Hartley (02:27):
There’s also other ways that people who want to get involved can really assist with nutritional needs in our community. So right Emma, you just mentioned Give Hunger a Holiday or you can either volunteer to deliver meals on Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. To do that, just call us at our main line at 734 -722-2830. Another option is to donate. We run a Give Hunger a Holiday campaign every holiday season. So you know, normally Fall through the end of the year and a meal for our Give Hunger a Holiday campaign costs about $10. So you can give $10, you can give 20, you can give whatever amount you have, but every meal counts and every meal really brings a smile to an older adult’s face when maybe they’re socially isolated and alone on a holiday. Apart from the Give Hunger a Holiday donation and volunteering, you can also volunteer for regular Meals on Wheels for that, you can contact Wayne County Senior Services at 734-326-5202.
Nikki Hartley (03:25):
That program runs Monday through Friday depending on the community and about 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM and roughly two hour time slots. Again, depending on the community for all of that. But you don’t have to volunteer every single day. You can volunteer once a day, once every first Monday of the month, whatever works for you. We are looking for consistent volunteers, so people who aren’t just looking for hours one time, but some people who will actually be able to give back to the program in some consistent manner. Another way is just by sharing information with those who are food insecure. If you know of somebody who is dealing with food insecurity, share our resources with them. Share Wayne Metro’s or anybody else’s resources with them. There are so many ways to not go hungry, right? Especially we have a wonderful community who’s very giving. So reach out and we can really make sure that people aren’t going hungry here.
Nikki Hartley (04:21):
Lastly, I’ll mention you can advocate for older adults who struggle with food insecurities. We have advocacy initiatives at The Senior Alliance. If you go to www.thesenioralliance.org/advocacy, some of the advocacy alerts that we have posted on there right now are in relation to federal funding and state funding for nutrition programs. So you can go fill those out and help us get more funding to fulfill our mission of making sure no older adult goes hungry. And then also just informally when talking with your family and friends, making sure that they know that food insecurity is very real and that there are ways to get involved and help out.
Jason Maciejewski (04:58):
The advocacy piece is really important. I don’t know that people realize our nutrition programs are funded by both federal and state dollars. We’ve got a lot of advocacy tools, Nikki, as you just pointed out, for people to utilize when there’s advocacy alerts. If people sign up for our advocacy alerts and Colloquy, which is our monthly advocacy newsletter, we occasionally will send out alerts to give people templates and really just say, now is the time to contact your legislator because we’re at a critical moment maybe in the appropriations process. And it’s not just Older Americans Act items as well. The Farm Bill is up for renewal in the Senate, the Federal Government, and within that there are several nutritional program components. So keeping in touch with our advocacy efforts is another way to help us with the nutrition programs by talking with members of Congress and the state legislature about the importance of these programs.
Jason Maciejewski (05:48):
At the end of the day, our food programs make a real difference for people. I know in my experiences delivering meals, whether it’s on the route that The Senior Alliance sponsors or holiday meal delivery, you encounter people in their homes who you may be the only person that they see on that given holiday or that given day the only person that they interact with or talk to. And I’ve certainly had the experience of delivering a meal and somebody making their way to the door with an assistive device like a rollator or a walker or a cane, and being incredibly appreciative of the fact that we’re able to deliver a meal to their home on a routine basis. Again, whether it’s the regular program or one of the holidays. And really it’s such an important piece to combat social isolation. It’s also a gateway for people to access other services and programs.
Jason Maciejewski (06:39):
So we know that people in the meals program, maybe they end up in one of our other in-home service programs like Care Management or maybe My Choice, but it’s a way for us to connect with them on a daily basis to check on their safety, to meet their nutritional need and to potentially link them to other resources in the community. That connection is such a foundational piece of what we do as an Area Agency on Aging, that nutrition programs are so important and the support from the community for our Give Hunger a Holiday efforts so we can deliver meals on those holidays is so critical.
Emma Case (07:10):
At The Senior Alliance, our staff volunteer twice a week to help deliver meals, and this is one of my personal favorite parts of my job. As you said, Jason, those who receive home delivered meals, this may be their only contact for the week beyond the impact of a hot meal and a friendly face to those who are served. Volunteering creates meaningful bonds that can develop between the volunteer and the home bound older adult, many whom face social isolation and loneliness. Volunteering for Meals on Wheels is more than just the meal. It’s about giving back to our community and helping those who most need it.
Jason Maciejewski (07:42):
And again, to meet the needs in our community we’re embarking upon Give Hunger a Holiday. We do this every autumn and I really want to emphasize that the funds that we raise through Give Hunger a Holiday really impact our community directly. We don’t sock a bunch of money away into our fund balance through fundraising. We want to put that revenue into action into the community to help people with nutrition programs and some of the other things that we do in our community.
Nikki Hartley (08:07):
Yeah, that’s right Jason. So this holiday season, we’ve actually set a goal of $65,000 for our Give Hunger a Holiday campaign. And we serve about 3,400 meals in our community per fiscal year or per year with the money that we raise from this campaign. But then everything else after that, if we have an excess of funds, we’ll go towards health and safety initiatives in our community to make sure that older adults have what they need to stay in their home to live healthy and safe lives. There are approximately 245,000 older adults in Western Wayne County, our service area. So there’s definitely no shortage of need for extra funding that we can give back to the community in different ways.
Jason Maciejewski (08:46):
We also have a Give Hunger a Holiday webpage, right Nikki?
Nikki Hartley (08:49):
Yes. So the Give Hunger a Holiday Campaign webpage is givehungeraholiday.org or.com. You can actually go to either or you can check out our website www.thesenioralliance.org and find the donate button on there and that will link you to Give Hunger a Holiday as well.
Emma Case (09:07):
People can also check out our new YouTube video on our YouTube channel, which shows how we’re using our fundraising dollars and how we’re impacting the community. This goes beyond meals. Our fundraising supports our transportation needs as well. Our my ID bracelet initiative, durable medical equipment like Rollators and walkers and medication dispensers. We’ve also been able to build some much needed ramps for people with mobility challenges.
Nikki Hartley (09:33):
And these services really do make a huge impact for people. Things like durable medical equipment, right? Wheelchairs, walkers, that sort of thing or ramps can be really expensive and if somebody doesn’t have the resources to pay for it themselves, it can be a real determining factor on whether or not they’re able to stay in their home or not as they get older. I also mentioned that people who receive our meals or health and safety products are always so, so thankful for the help. When someone is struggling, it can mean a lot to know that there is a community behind them that cares and is really trying to look out for them. All of the work that we do as an agency really comes back to our wonderful community who gets involved in very real and meaningful ways. So again, I’ll plug that if you are interested in donating, visit givehungeraholiday.org to help fund the services that we’re talking about today.
Jason Maciejewski (10:20):
And our staff and our board gets involved in Give Hunger a Holiday as well. We have some businesses that have been long time supporters of this effort and we know that every dollar that we raise through Give Hunger a Holiday means more impact for people. And that if people want to donate financially, we’re really appreciative of that. And if they want to give their time, they can volunteer through the holiday meals opportunity as well. And even the daily Meals on Wheels program, as we mentioned earlier.
Emma Case (10:45):
Yeah, one of our listeners is wondering how to get involved with holiday meals. I suggest calling our main line at 734-722-2830 and let them know that you’re interested in volunteering for Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer for Meals on Wheels in your city, you can call 734-326-5202 or email seniornutrition@waynecounty.com.
Jason Maciejewski (11:11):
Nikki and Emma, I want to thank you for joining me today to talk about Give Hunger a Holiday and the work that we do on nutrition in the community. Really appreciate your time.
Nikki Hartley (11:18):
Thank you, Jason, for having us.
Emma Case (11:20):
Yes, thank you.
Jason Maciejewski (11:21):
If you have any questions about services or programs The Senior Alliance offers, you can call us at (734) 722-2830 or email us at info@thesenioralliance.org. Information about our agency, the programs and services we offer, or to donate to Give Hunger a Holiday, visit our website at www.thesenioralliance.org. On Facebook, we can be located by searching for The Senior Alliance. And finally, our X, formerly known as Twitter handle is @AAA1C. I’m Jason Maciejewski. Thank you for listening to this episode of Inside The Senior Alliance.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Inside The Senior Alliance as a production of The Senior Alliance and Blazing Kiss Media.
