YPSILANTI, MI - As she left Towne Centre Place apartments in Ypsilanti on a recent morning, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell counted her blessings.

"Every time I'm in this building, it reminds me how lucky I am," said Dingell, who just finished volunteering with Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels to deliver free hot and cold meals to several poor, elderly and disabled tenants at the subsidized housing high-rise on Michigan Avenue.

"There are a lot of people who have worked their whole lives and are struggling, and we've got a crisis in this country," Dingell said, making a case that programs such as Meals on Wheels are critically important in society.

"I mean, this for me today not only is the importance of Meals on Wheels -- and as you heard many people say, it's the only way they eat -- but also 10,000 people are turning 65 every single day and they don't have anybody to count on. They don't have anybody to check on them. They're by themselves."

Dingell volunteered to help deliver meals on Tuesday, April 18, to raise awareness about what the program means for people.

When Congress returns from recess next week, it will have to act quickly to approve legislation to prevent a government shutdown and fund the federal budget past April 28, the expiration date for the current funding.

President Donald Trump's budget proposals call for cuts to various federal programs, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program, which provides funding to Meals on Wheels programs nationwide. Last month, Mick Mulvaney, Trump's budget chief, defended cuts that could impact Meals on Wheels by saying the program "sounds great" but the federal government is in debt and it can't spend money anymore on programs that are "just not showing any results."

"We're going to do everything we can to fight this," Dingell said. "Hopefully we're going to win this and Republicans in the Congress realize as much as we do that it's unacceptable to cut programs like this."

For those who take comfort in remaining in their own homes but are unable to shop or cook for themselves, the meals and the personal contact is not only appreciated, but in many cases vital, according to Meals on Wheels.

One of the residents Dingell and the other volunteers visited was Dwight Spears, a 62-year-old disabled veteran. Spears said he's been getting meals delivered through Meals on Wheels for about a year and a half now.

"Before that, I struggled to make ends meet, you know, because I'm a diabetic and I had to have a special diet, so it's expensive," he said, calling Meals on Wheels a life saver and saying he'd be in bad shape without it.

"It was hard to pay rent and be able to afford food. You know, healthy food is expensive. So, I'd be struggling."

Ken Jensen, another Towne Centre Place resident, said Meals on Wheels has made a big difference in his life.

The 71-year-old retiree lives with his Russian Blue cat named Munchkin. He has memory problems and isn't allowed to cook for himself anymore because of the risk of starting a fire, so his stove is unhooked and he relies on the delivered meals, which he rations out to get through the weekend.

"When they told me I couldn't cook anymore, I was down to not much at all to eat," he said, adding Meals on Wheels changed that. "I never knew things like this existed before. I'm just so thankful. It's a blessing. It just amazes me."

Edward Windom, another Towne Centre Place resident who is in a wheelchair, also speaks highly of the program, saying the food is good and it's delivered on time practically every day. Without Meals on Wheels, he said, his sister would probably have to do more to help provide for him.

In Michigan, Meals on Wheels delivers nearly 10 million meals each year to homebound persons 60 years or older, or adults with disabilities, who are unable to shop or prepare meals for themselves.

Meals on Wheels estimates providing a year of meals to one senior costs the same as a one-day stay in the hospital.



With seniors living longer, healthier lives, Dingell says one of her top priorities is improving the country's long-term care system to ensure seniors can live independently with the highest quality of life for the longest time possible.

Programs such as Meals on Wheels that allow seniors to age with dignity in their own homes are critical to that effort, Dingell argues.

Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels, a nonprofit agency, is one of five Meals on Wheels programs in Washtenaw County. It serves homebound elderly, disabled and ill residents in the city of Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township, Augusta Township, Superior Township, eastern Pittsfield Township and York Township.

Most of its clients receive meals five days a week, though some receive meals less frequently.

On Tuesday morning, the clients visited by Dingell and volunteers from the Liberty Club of Saline received both a hot meal and a cold meal, including macaroni and cheese, meatloaf on a kaiser roll, fruits, veggies and more.

"Macaroni and cheese is a crowd favorite," said Alison Foreman, Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels executive director.

The agency has four paid drivers, but it also relies on the help of four to 10 volunteers each day, and about 700 to 800 throughout any given year.

Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels has an annual budget of about $650,000. Foreman said the agency receives about $40,000 from the threatened CDBG funds, which are used for overhead expenses such as its fleet of four vehicles.

"Those are pretty important," she said. "We have four vehicles, so we're trying to maintain a nice fleet so we can end up getting out to people reliably."

She said the bigger hit to the program would be if Trump's proposed 18 percent cut to the Department of Health and Human Services goes through.

"That could mean a loss of $100,000 to us," she said. "That would mean having a wait list again or reducing our meal service from two meals back down to one meal. We already feel like we have a wait list, or what we call food rationing, because we're not able to deliver nutrition seven days a week."

Foreman added, "We would love to bring back Saturday meal delivery. In fact, we need to raise an extra $100,000 to do that. So, it would be a challenge to fundraise an extra $100,000, considering we only raise about $150,000, so to increase that to $250,000 would be pretty hard for us."

Foreman notes the senior population is growing, and forecasts suggest that trend will continue for many years to come.

"By 2020, like 30 percent of our population in Washtenaw County are going to be seniors," she said. "By 2040, more than 50 percent is going to be people over the age of 60. So not only would a funding cut be bad, we actually need funding increases, so we're actually calling our politicians and trying to ask them to not only not cut our funding, but to increase funding for seniors."

For those who question whether programs such as Meals on Wheels are necessary or are delivering results, Foreman has one thing to say.

"Go out and deliver meals with us," she said. "I am happy to share any information people want, but I feel once you get out and you deliver a meal, you have a much different vision. I mean, I have heard stories of clients saying they're rationing out the food that they get. And when you see the portion sizes, they aren't meant to be rationed for another day."

Foreman said some people will save half of their macaroni and cheese just so they have something to eat on Saturday.

"They're saving the fruit and rationing the fruit so they have a little something," she said. "I have some clients who say, 'When you leave on Friday, I don't eat until you come back on Monday.'

"So, we want good, balanced nutrition," Foreman said. "And that's going to help somebody who's recovering from a stroke or from a fall, who needs to have good nutrition while they're going through physical therapy to get better."

Dingell said she knows of a man in Taylor who acknowledged he was eating banana peels to get through weekends.

In addition to the delivery of hot and cold meals, which are prepared by a food service based in Detroit, Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels also does grocery delivery to clients on Mondays using rescued produce from Food Gatherers.

"Most of our clients receive about a five-pound bag of produce, so it's apples, oranges, baby carrots, salad mixes, things like that," Foreman said, adding they also receive dairy, yogurt and bread. "So clients who want that, we are able to do that, and then we have some partnerships with some local farms.

"I have a local farmer who brings us farm-fresh eggs for our clients, so some of them get like a nice little six-pack of eggs to cook up as well, and we also have a grocery delivery program through Jewish Family Services."

Foreman said many students from Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan volunteer with Meals on Wheels.

With college students going away for the summer, she said, this is the time of year the agency can see a shortage of volunteers, which means the paid staff has a heavier load and doesn't get to spend as much time with each client.

"The value is when we can break off volunteer routes," Foreman said. "Then when our staff go to the single-site homes, they have a little bit more time with each client to converse with them -- you know, kind of brighten their day."

Sometimes the agency's staff will help with chores or minor repairs around the house, take the garbage out, change a light bulb, or bring food for pets.

People who want to volunteer to deliver meals can go to ymow.org and sign up. Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels needs volunteers on weekdays.

Those who want to volunteer on a Saturday are sent to Ann Arbor Meals on Wheels, which delivers on Saturdays.

Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels board member Cathy Day said the agency is lean and any cuts to its budget would have direct impacts on clients.

"It would be very difficult for our clients, the people we serve, if we got cut," said the retired EMU faculty member. "We've worked very hard to make sure we're a sustainable organization and can meet the needs of our clients, but we're still working on some things that would help them. To lose funding would be disastrous for many of them and it makes no sense."

Back at the Meals on Wheels office inside the First Baptist Church of Ypsilanti on Tuesday, Foreman gave Dingell a stack of paper plates with hand-written messages on them from Meals on Wheels clients and volunteers.

"Meals on Wheels feeds people who society forgets about. It is needed and appreciated," read one message written in marker.

"I enjoy my Meals on Wheels so much," another person penned. "They help me to eat healthy with the vegetable and fruit. They also help me to eat because my food stamps has been cut so low. Please don't cut my Meals on Wheels too."

Another woman wrote that Meals on Wheels has kept her alive and she would have starved by now without it.

One plate had a typed note from a man named Joe, who said he is relatively young and has terminal cancer.

"I have been hanging on, but realistically I have maybe a year or two on this earth," he wrote. "I have had 7 surgeries and countless treatments in the past two years. Before Meals on Wheels, my family members would bring me casseroles and things, simply I didn't and don't have the energy to cook.

"It was unsaid but this was a strain on them, regardless of their strong love for me. I contacted Meals on Wheels and, after an interview process, they started to bring me meals. 2 completely thought-out and balanced, nutritious meals. The people that work and volunteer at this program are always kind, talkative and smiling. I actually look forward to the short daily visits."

He went on to write his nutrition has improved greatly and he believes that has helped prolong his time to make a positive impact in today's negative climate.

"I can't speak for others, only me," he wrote. "This program is a necessity for me. Considering cutting funding to this well-founded community program that's assisting the elderly and terminally ill seems to be counterproductive."