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Effects of Inflation for Meals on Wheels Syracuse Effects of Inflation for Meals on Wheels

By Kennedy Houston

Kennedy Houston: The people in this kitchen are cooking a small feast. Chicken is pulled straight from the oven. And the vegetable prep is ongoing. It’s not to feed the people cooking but the people of their community- seniors and home bound people. Meals on wheels is a volunteer service where people prepare and deliver meals for those who can’t do it themselves. Linda Llewellyn is a volunteer who says the hard work is worth it when she sees the people they serve.

Linda Llewellyn: All of us go into some clients’ homes. When you realize that there’s nothing there but what we put there or very little other than the Meals on Wheels you know you are providing basic sustenance for people. So, a little friendship, a smile and some nutritious food.

Houston: A typical day starts bright and early at six with food prep. Volunteers will come in throughout the morning to help pack the meals, and clean. Here at Meals on Wheels Syracuse they’ll try to prepare multiple meals for each of their clients. How do they do this? By giving them food from both the red basket and the blue basket. Blue meaning cold temperature food and red meaning hot temperature food. That same food is rolled into the parking lot where volunteer drivers will pack the food into their car. They’ll drive to their assigned routes until all meals are delivered. But inflation could slow their roll. Executive director Mason Kaufman says the rising costs of food and gas has impacted the organization.

Mason Kaufman: Instead of buying food at the budget level we expected it goes higher and we still have to buy the food we don’t have a choice in that.

Houston: Another concern the organization faces is cuts to their income. Meals on Wheels relies on multiple streams of federal funding to provide for as many people they can. If there’s cuts to their income or if they exceed the spending limit, they’ll have to put people on waiting lists.

Kaufman: We haven’t hit that point yet but we’re always cognizant that down the road there may be cuts to federal funding or state funding and then there may be that capacity issue.

Houston: Even with concerns about the future the staff are still dedicated to helping. Llewellyn says the only con of being a volunteer is that she can’t do more.

Llewellyn: If I’m away I miss Meals on Wheels and I wonder you know, and I can’t wait to get back. I frequently send an email or a text on my way home to say I’ll be here in the morning.

Houston: Meals on Wheels Syracuse served about seven-hundred people last year. They hope to keep providing resources to their community. In Syracuse, Kennedy Houston, N-C-C News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Concerns of inflation have spread far and wide throughout the year, impacting people and organizations. Meals on Wheels Syracuse isn’t an exception. The organization has been providing meals to seniors, and home-bound people, since 1959. The goal is to provide nutritious meals for people unable to shop for themselves.  However, those meals have come at a cost to the organization. Mason Kaufman, the Executive Director of Meals on Wheels, said there’s more expense due to food inflation.

“If gas prices are higher then the delivery of the food becomes more costly and the prices go up. If Inflation for producing the food or transporting the food goes up then the price of food goes up. And it goes up for us as well, so when we’re buying food from the vendors instead of buying food at the budget level, we expected it goes higher and we still have to buy the food”.

While the inflation has been hard to keep up with Kaufman observed there has been an improvement in prices. “Now fortunately from last year I think it got as high as 50% its dropped some,” Kaufman said. “It’s closer I think to nine percent or something like that, so that’s better for us”.

Another concern for Meals on Wheels Syracuse is federal funding. They’re reliant on different streams of federal funding as a source of income. It enables them to support the clients they feed. However, each one is capped at a certain amount. If they exceed that limit, they’ll be forced to put people on waiting lists. Presently, there’s no concern that they’ll hit that limit, but Kaufman said politics could affect future funding.

“Is there gonna be cuts, are there not gonna be cuts, are there gonna be increases. So that’s always looming, and you just don’t know what gonna be in the next years ahead,” Kaufman said. “It depends on the elections and who’s in office. And that leaves us at an uncertainty in the future always”.

Despite the stress, Linda Llewellyn, a volunteer at Meals on Wheels Syracuse’s, said their mission is still worth it.  “A woman told me yesterday that people don’t come to visit her very much anymore,” Llewellyn said.” She lights up when you come to the door”.

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