Since Thursday's release of President Donald Trump’s budget proposal — which includes sizable funding cuts to various food programs — Meals on Wheels has seen a massive increase in donations and volunteer sign-ups.

While the budget outline does not expressly call for the elimination of the food delivery service, it does suggest eliminating the $3-billion Community Development Block Grant program, which partially funds Meals on Wheels, and also proposes cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services budget.

"5,000 Meals on Wheels programs across the country...could be effected if that 17.9% cut to the US Department of Health and Human Services resulted in a cut to programs within," Meals on Wheels America said in a statement.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called into question the efficacy of Meals on Wheels and other services, saying Thursday that the government “can’t spend money on programs just because they sound good and great.”



He also said that reducing funding for these programs was "one of the most compassionate things we can do," and that the government would no longer "ask you for your hard-earned money anymore...unless we can guarantee to you that that money is actually [going to] be used in a proper function."