Melissa Bailey File Photo
Lead Volunteer Melzetta Reed serves up daily lunch to Jeannette Green at the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center.
Representatives for elderly New Haveners came to City Hall with a request Tuesday night: restore the Elderly Nutrition Program to its original five-day per week run.
“Some of these seniors only eat one meal a day,” said Gus Cuomo, president of the Atwater Senior Center in Fair Haven. “This program is just too important to cut.”
He joined a group of seniors and senior supporters at a hearing on the subject held by Board of Aldermen’s Human Services Committee at City Hall Tuesday night.
Free meals are currently available to seniors once per day at five centers in New Haven through the federally funded Elderly Nutrition Program. Each carries a suggested $2 donation, and have traditionally been available five days a week.
Atwater’s Gus Cuomo.
Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut announced cuts to program funding last month. For background on the story, click here and here.
Some centers were in danger of closing. An interim solution was found when FSW Inc., the company charged with running the program, proposed reducing the number of days meals are served, with some centers being cut down to as few as two days per week.
“But as of Feb.14, all the centers are back to only one day off a week,” former city Director of Elderly Services Don Dimenstein told the aldermanic committee Tuesday night. “We went from two to four to one. Now to say that’s progress is really stretching it.”
“Being shut down even one day is unacceptable.”
Lunch us the best meal of the day for seniors, said Dimenstein and others. Furthermore, when senior centers such as Atwater are unable to provide meals for their members, attendance drops.
“And that has everyone asking, why keep the center open to begin with?”
Marge Ottenbreit, who volunteers regularly at Atwater, voiced her support for restoring the program.
“Even last week when there were a few days we didn’t have food, people gathered and were really worried,” she said. “Some day all of us are going to be old,” she said. “And you know it’s fortunate that we may not have to depend on the kindness of others. but these people do.” Cuomo noted that many of the seniors don’t have money to buy meals on their own.
Dimenstein asked the committee about a proposal for fundraising among Connecticut towns, and suggested going even further up the chain to state Sen. Toni Harp and U.S Rep. Rosa DeLauro.
“We also have neighborhood foundations and banks and their function is to contribute to the community. Have they been approached?”
We Don’t Deserve This
William Vaughn, president of the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center Association, turned up with five supporters and told the committee that members have grown to depend on the center’s services. “It would be very much of an injustice if it was taken away,” he said.
“We don’t have money to feed people, but we’re the richest country in the world,” he said. “And the first ones they pick on are the seniors.”
“The last thing in the world you want is to pick up a paper and read about seniors dying in their homes because they’re living alone,” said Dimenstein. Senior centers can play a role in keeping tabs on their members, and providing a continued sense of community around meals.
They’re really a home away from home for seniors, Cuomo said.
“We’ve been around for a long time, and we’ve worked for a long time,” said Vaughn. “We don’t deserve this.”
From the City
Current city Director of Elderly Services for New Haven Pat Wallace, Jonathan Reiner, director of grants and contracts for the Agency on Aging and FSW President William Hass took turns testifying before the committee.
“We’re trying to put together a plan to raise money. Right now, any dollars raised are going to help the home delivered meal program because we feel that those are the more vulnerable individuals,” said Hass. “We’ll continue to look at other resources for regular meals.”
“We’ll work to restore the services to their previous levels,” he said.
Committee chair Alderman Sergio Rodriguez (pictured) asked Reiner why there is such little lead time for centers between budget cut announcements and potential closures.
“The problem is we don’t know what money we’re going to get until well into the grant year,” Reiner replied. “To date, we still don’t know what we’re going to get from the dept of social services.”
“In theory they could still come and cut the money,” he continued. They could, he said, end up with even less money than they originally expected.
“But this hasn’t happened in previous years?” Rodriguez pushed.
Reiner said it hadn’t, and cited increased federal mandates. The feds’ commission on aging increased requirements for nutrition education and counseling for home-delivered clients and frequent recipients, he said. “Also, the cost of transportation and food itself has increased.”
And in prior years, he said, the agency has always had carry-over dollars.
“This year we didn’t,” he said. “And unfortunately it took a while to come to that realization.”
Rodriguez suggested approaching DeLauro to question the federal mandates.
“We should appeal to her and make her aware of the unintended consequences of this legislation,” he said. “In an ideal world, with unlimited funding it makes sense, but under these circumstances it doesn’t.”
He asked Hass for a written plan to increase services up to their previous level.
“We have a plan” Hass said. “But we don’t have anything on paper. I can write something up for you.”
Wallace, who’d waited patiently to give her testimony, was asked to hold off until the next committee meeting due to lack of time. She expressed her displeasure.
“I think it’s quite unfortunate, Mr. Chair, that the department hasn’t had any opportunity to talk to you about what we’ve done, what we’re working on,” she said, pointing to what she called the valuable information she had for the committee and the public.
Rodriguez relented, and agreed to adjourn to another room to take her testimony after the meeting ended.