Meals on Wheels San Antonio CEO Vinsen Faris says his staff receives dozens of calls daily from seniors asking if their meals will be cut off.
SAN ANTONIO — CEO for Meals on Wheels San Antonio Vinsen Faris says up to this point, the organization has not received any cuts to funding. But the uncertainty of what will come next for the nonprofit – is daunting.
“These people are home, they are watching television a great part of their day because they are by themselves and they’re seeing scary news,” Faris said. “And so it’s very, very threatening and unsettling to them and that’s one of the saddest things.”
Faris says Meals on Wheels San Antonio has not received any cuts to funding at this point.
“When we first heard so many funds were going to be cut across the board – ‘Meals on Wheels’ programs were listed,” he said. “But thank goodness they pulled that back, so nothing has happened along those lines as of yet.”
Faris says everyone from volunteers to recipients of these free meals are stressed which he says should not be the case.
“They so look forward to our volunteers and staff arriving around the noon hour knock on the door, friendly hellos, smile, they know they’re being checked on,” Faris said. “But for so many of them, our volunteers are the only people they see during the day.”
Faris says it takes resources to carry out these home visits – part of making that happen is through federal grants.
“Right now, we’re concerned that there’s not people in place to process payments to the states because the funding comes from Washington to Austin down to the local level.”
He continues, even though congress appropriated money if there’s no one to pay the bills it’s not going to get to San Antonio.
“Talk to your congressman and talk to our two senators, reach out call them on the phone,” Faris said. “Meals on Wheels is part of the solution.”