Santa Barbara County Food Bank Calls On Congress To Pass Bill to Fund Home Delivery Program for Seniors

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.—Food Bank of Santa Barbara County Spokeswoman Laurel Alcantar says when it comes to accessing nutrition many seniors don’t just have to overcome financial obstacles. They also have to deal with physical limitations.
 
“An individual who's disabled, who's unable to even perhaps utilize a public transportation, who doesn't have someone to give them a ride, and who's unable to drive. That's actually relatively common. And so they end up being very isolated. And it really helps to be able to have that food delivered directly to their door,” said Alcantar.
 
The Food bank has already implemented the older adults nutrition program, which delivers food boxes directly to seniors who are disabled and unable to make it to a distribution site.
 
Last fiscal year, we delivered about, 19,000 food boxes to individuals and about 4000 prepared meals,” said Alcantar.
 
Alcantar worries food insecurity will only get worse as Santa Barbara County’s senior population is expected to grow from 14% to 30% within the next 5 years.
 
She wants Congress to include the Delivering for Rural Seniors Act in the Farm Bill.
 
The legislation would authorize a 5 year pilot grant program to support home delivery through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides monthly food boxes to seniors.
 
Alcantar says the proposal would help seniors in rural and underserved communities.
 
“Without solutions for a population that tends, you know, to be isolated, to have these barriers to transportation and who may be far from these sites and unable to get there, it really ensures that, you know, if we're meeting that need, that they're not forgotten,” said Alcantar.

Alcantar says they’ve already dealt with major obstacles in the last year including cuts to the USDA food supply, but she’s hopeful.

More than 100 organizations have signed onto the letter to Congress.