New Program Feeds Senior Citizens
(Staff Photo By Jaime R. Carrero)
Speaking: USDA Under Secretary Nancy Johner speaks at the East Texas Food Bank headquarters on Robertson Street in Tyler on Friday.
By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor
Federal officials in Tyler Friday lauded efforts by the East Texas Food Bank and Meals on Wheels for launching a "creative, innovative" program to feed senior citizens on weekends. USDA Under Secretary Nancy Johner enthusiastically endorsed the Senior Servings program during a press conference at the food bank.
Weekend supplies of ready-to-eat foods are provided and packaged by the food bank, and weekend volunteers for Meals On Wheels make deliveries. This type of cooperation between agencies is what the nation needs now, said Ms. Johner.
"There isn't another program like this in America," Ms. Johner told the Tyler Paper. "We're here today to reinforce this very innovative, creative program and use it as an example to the rest of the nation. I'll be telling people everywhere I go about this program in Tyler, Texas. And I go a lot of places."
As under secretary, Ms. Johner is responsible for the administration of 15 nutrition assistance programs with a combined budget of $58 billion for the Food and Nutrition Service and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. The programs affect one in every five Americans through the Food Stamp Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs and the Commodity Distribution Programs, said Steven Savage, chief communications officer with the service, and accompanying Ms. Johner.
The under secretary was the first to officially visit Tyler recipients of the weekend foods, hand out sacks and ask them if the food would help them.
"This will make a big difference," said Bennie Henderson, 89, to Ms. Johner. "You can't make it today on Social Security. That isn't going to happen. I won't have to scrape together whatever happens to be in the house."
The Senior Servings program was 18 months in the developmental phase, said Robert Bush, executive director of the food bank.
"This all started when we discovered some seniors were dividing their Friday Meal On Wheels allotments into fourths to make it through the weekend," he said. "This is not a good thing for seniors who often take medications and need food to take them with or they can become ill, not to mention the nutrition lost."
A pilot program funded by the Junior League of Tyler tested various foods, delivery systems, "even the bags the food came in" said Bush, until a model was established.
Testing of 150 clients revealed preferences that worked, he said.
"We found that safe out-of-the-box foods were received best," he said. "The smaller bag with handles on it worked best for the seniors. We patterned the Senior Servings program after the Backpack program we'd started last year."
Orange juice, pop-top cans of chili, fruit cups, peanut butter, franks and beans and sausages and other "no-preparation foods" are rotated in the weekly servings, said Barbara Folsom, who oversees the nutritional content of the servings.
"Each sack costs about $3," said Bush. "For $156, a senior citizen can eat on the weekends for an entire year. This isn't weeks of food at a time. It's limited to workable, weekend meals."
"Seniors are some of most vulnerable people in society today," said Ms. Johner during the conference. "This is an initiative of caring citizens for their community. It's about collaboration to help one another. We can learn from this across the country."
Religion Editor
Federal officials in Tyler Friday lauded efforts by the East Texas Food Bank and Meals on Wheels for launching a "creative, innovative" program to feed senior citizens on weekends. USDA Under Secretary Nancy Johner enthusiastically endorsed the Senior Servings program during a press conference at the food bank.
Weekend supplies of ready-to-eat foods are provided and packaged by the food bank, and weekend volunteers for Meals On Wheels make deliveries. This type of cooperation between agencies is what the nation needs now, said Ms. Johner.
"There isn't another program like this in America," Ms. Johner told the Tyler Paper. "We're here today to reinforce this very innovative, creative program and use it as an example to the rest of the nation. I'll be telling people everywhere I go about this program in Tyler, Texas. And I go a lot of places."
As under secretary, Ms. Johner is responsible for the administration of 15 nutrition assistance programs with a combined budget of $58 billion for the Food and Nutrition Service and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. The programs affect one in every five Americans through the Food Stamp Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs and the Commodity Distribution Programs, said Steven Savage, chief communications officer with the service, and accompanying Ms. Johner.
The under secretary was the first to officially visit Tyler recipients of the weekend foods, hand out sacks and ask them if the food would help them.
"This will make a big difference," said Bennie Henderson, 89, to Ms. Johner. "You can't make it today on Social Security. That isn't going to happen. I won't have to scrape together whatever happens to be in the house."
The Senior Servings program was 18 months in the developmental phase, said Robert Bush, executive director of the food bank.
"This all started when we discovered some seniors were dividing their Friday Meal On Wheels allotments into fourths to make it through the weekend," he said. "This is not a good thing for seniors who often take medications and need food to take them with or they can become ill, not to mention the nutrition lost."
A pilot program funded by the Junior League of Tyler tested various foods, delivery systems, "even the bags the food came in" said Bush, until a model was established.
Testing of 150 clients revealed preferences that worked, he said.
"We found that safe out-of-the-box foods were received best," he said. "The smaller bag with handles on it worked best for the seniors. We patterned the Senior Servings program after the Backpack program we'd started last year."
Orange juice, pop-top cans of chili, fruit cups, peanut butter, franks and beans and sausages and other "no-preparation foods" are rotated in the weekly servings, said Barbara Folsom, who oversees the nutritional content of the servings.
"Each sack costs about $3," said Bush. "For $156, a senior citizen can eat on the weekends for an entire year. This isn't weeks of food at a time. It's limited to workable, weekend meals."
"Seniors are some of most vulnerable people in society today," said Ms. Johner during the conference. "This is an initiative of caring citizens for their community. It's about collaboration to help one another. We can learn from this across the country."
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