DuPage Meals on Wheels dropping to 2 days a week due to state cuts
The state's budget problems have forced the DuPage Senior Citizens Council to put the brakes on its Meals on Wheels program.
Council leaders say the nonprofit organization is planning to reduce its Home-Delivered Meals and Community Dining programs in January, leaving hundreds of DuPage County seniors without a safety net.
Starting Jan. 11, eight community dining sites are slated to close and Meals on Wheels deliveries will be limited to Mondays and Thursdays. Normally, both programs are offered daily, Monday through Friday.
"We have to cut back from delivering five meals a week to two meals a week," said Marylin Krolak, executive director of the DuPage Senior Citizens' Council. "That's the tragic part of it."
Each year, roughly $700,000 from the Illinois General Revenue Fund is used to pay for home-delivered meals to seniors in DuPage.
But because Illinois has been operating without a budget since July 1, the council hasn't been receiving state money for the Meals on Wheels program.
The agency has been using reserve cash and other funding to keep the meal program running. That money, however, is now exhausted, and the council can no longer operate the Meals on Wheels program at full capacity.
The Meals on Wheels program provides meals to 700 to 800 homebound seniors.
Another 300 to 400 seniors travel to the community dining sites each day to get a warm meal and participate in health and wellness activities.
Krolak said the council suspended the community dining program because the federal money the group continues to receive must support the Meals on Wheels program.
About 80 percent of the seniors receiving the home-delivered meals are living well below the poverty level, according to Krolak. "So the ones that we serve in the homes and deliver meals to are the neediest of the needy," she said.
Council officials say the group will continue operating its Well-Being Check program five days a week, thanks to the help of hundreds of volunteers. The program provides seniors with a daily well-being check to ensure their safety and health.
To avoid the cutbacks, state lawmakers by the end of the month would need to approve a budget or adopt a mechanism to release obligated dollars so certain programs can get funding.
"We hope our state legislators resolve this situation as soon as possible so DSCC can resume operating our Meals on Wheels program at full capacity, and restore our Community Dining program, which is suffering indirectly," Krolak said.
Donations to support the council and its Meals on Wheels program can be made through the agency's website at dupageseniorcouncil.org or by calling (630) 620-0804.