According to Enid Borden, Executive Director of Meals On Wheels Association of America (MOWAA), in her Huffington Post article in July 2011, there are four enduring myths about senior hunger in America.

In a four part series I will discuss each myth separately. Subscribe to our blog (the Sign Me Up button is in the right hand column) to be notified of future posts.

PART 1

Myth #1 – Seniors are not going hungry in the U.S. 

FACT – As of 2009, there were almost 1 million seniors in the U.S. who go hungry because they cannot afford to buy food. Another 5 million seniors in the U.S. faced the threat of hunger. In one of the world’s richest nations, no older American should be going hungry. However instead, in recent years, hunger rates have more than doubled for poor seniors in the country, and it is likely to get worse as the older population is the fastest growing cohort of the U.S. population.

The people we serve here in Erie are the oldest and most frail in our population. There are approximately 7,536 elderly aged 65 or older in metro Erie. An unacceptable 24% poverty rate in Erie could potentially affect 1,808 of those seniors. We serve 370 daily. Clearly, more needs to be done. I will tackle how we can accomplish this in future posts. Keep your eyes on the road.