BELFAST, Maine — Retired industrial arts teacher Jason Tibbetts, 82, can’t get around too well, and going grocery shopping is beyond his capacities.
That’s why the Belfast resident, who lives alone, really appreciates the deliveries he gets from Meals on Wheels volunteers who drop off food for him — one hot meal and four frozen meals — and kibble for his golden retriever, Jenny.
“I like having them drop by, and it’s financially helpful,” he said Tuesday.
Knowing how much he is helped by the food and cheered by the companionship that comes with it, Tibbetts had sharp words about federal budget cuts to Meals on Wheels that will impact the program.
“I think it’s terrible,” he said. “It seems to me that all the people in the state who need help are getting hit the hardest with cutbacks.”
Meals on Wheels are provided in his part of the state by Spectrum Generations, the central Maine Area Agency on Aging that serves older and disabled adults in Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Somerset and Waldo counties, as well as the Cumberland County towns of Brunswick and Harpswell. Earlier this month, officials from the nonprofit announced that a $37,283 cut to the nutrition program funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services necessitated placing would-be Meals on Wheels recipients on a waiting list for just the second time in the agency’s 42-year history.
In Waldo County, that already has meant four people who asked to receive Meals on Wheels have been told there’s no room, unless they can pay $35 per person per week. Altogether, there are 29 people and counting who have been wait listed for the Spectrum Generations programs around the state.
“It’s the hardest part of my job,” Allison Wood, Meals on Wheels nutrition and volunteer coordinator for Spectrum Generations in Waldo County, said this week. “You know they need it, and there’s not much you can do. People are living on a fixed income, and they say ‘that money isn’t there.’”
Debra Silva of Spectrum Generations said demand for the free meals is very high in Maine. About 1,000 people use Meals on Wheels in all their counties.
“Meals on Wheels does not look at a person’s income. It’s the ability to prepare a meal, and are they homebound,” she said. “We’re not going to serve fewer meals than we have in past years. We just can’t serve additional meals.”
That’s too bad, according to volunteer driver David Whalen, who delivers meals around Belfast each week with his wife, Mary Anne. He said he sees firsthand the program helps the most vulnerable people in Maine.
“It’s very practical,” he said. “It’s something immediate you can provide to someone, and I think a lot of folks appreciate the company. It’s someone to see every week. I also think there’s some people who really need it, from an economic perspective.”
Some of their clients are very sick. Others live on the thinnest of economic margins. The volunteers are trained to do more than just drop off a bundle of meals and then drive away, Whalen said. They keep an eye out for trouble, including social isolation, anxiety, depression, sudden financial problems, malnourishment or loss of hope. If they notice something, they alert program officials about what’s going on.
“It’s a shame,” Whalen said of the budget cuts.
His wife agreed.
“Nobody can say they don’t know how effective this is,” she said. “It’s pretty damn basic.”
Anyone wishing to help donate money to close the budget gap for the Meals on Wheels program can visit their website at spectrumgenerations.org or call 1-800-639-1553.