Published: November 06, 2009 07:06 am      

Fight on to restore funds

Seniors who receive food from nutrition sites are angry -- angry that $7.4 million has been cut from the various nutrition programs.

They want the money returned.

The funding cuts by the state have led to some nutrition sites closing down and others reducing the number of days they serve food to seniors.

In Woodward, meals at the senior center have been cut back to four days, starting Nov. 1.

Elise Solloway, outreach worker for Panhandle Nutrition which oversees nutrition sites in 10 communities in Northwest Oklahoma, said her agency’s cuts were $126,242 starting Nov. 1.

To express the opinions of the staff of Panhandle Nutrition and the senior citizens it serves, Solloway attended a rally on Wednesday at the state capitol for senior nutrition sites that have had their funding cut.

The purpose of the rally was to bring concerns about the funding cuts to the governor, legislators, the Department of Human Services and the general public, Solloway said.

In attendance were about 400 clients and staff members from different nutrition sites plus the Area Agency on Aging, the American Association of Retired People and some state legislators, she said.

“Absent from this rally were the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House , Senate ProTem, director of DHS and many state legislators,” she said. “The audience’s response to this reality was both loud and angry.”

During the rally, options for getting the funds back were addressed, she said.

They included:

•Having Gov. Brad Henry appropriate money from his discretionary fund to the nutrition sites.

•Having DHS give money back to the nutrition budget.

•Adding an additional dollar per car tag to go the nutrition sites.

•Holding a special legislative session that could be called in order to get money from the state’s Rainy Day Fund and put it into the nutrition sites.

Most people are unaware of the importance of nutrition sites and services for citizens, Solloway said.

“Many have extremely limited income and rely on the meals they receive through the nutrition site,” she said.

For example, in Woodward, seniors are only asked to make a donation of $2.50 per meal.

“Many clients resort to dividing their lunch meals from the nutrition site in half so they will be able to have two meals a day to eat,” she said, adding, “many clients have no family, or they rarely see their family members, so their congregate meals at the nutrition site provide them with their primary means of socializing with their peers.”

“State nutrition recognizes that Oklahoma is experiencing hard economic times but firmly believes that taking meals away from our senior citizens and disabled citizens is not the way to balance the budget,” she said.

“Those attending the rally demanded that funds be found now, not later...,” she said.