Countywide : Meals Program Gets Emergency Money

The Board of Supervisors approved $100,000 in emergency aid Tuesday to the Feedback Foundation, the county’s largest provider of meals for senior citizens and one of the oldest and largest such programs in the nation.

Feedback Foundation Director Shirley Cohen had said last week that without the cash infusion, the organization probably would have to close for the month of June after 17 years of continuous service in which clients “never missed a meal.”

The foundation, which operates at 28 sites throughout the county, provides one hot meal each day, usually around noon, to 3,000 senior citizens. It is federally funded, but for the past eight years its annual grant of $1.79 million has not kept pace with rising costs, foundation officials told supervisors last week. The grant for this year has already been exhausted, and the foundation won’t receive more federal money until the new fiscal year begins in July.

In a letter to his four colleagues, Supervisors Chairman Don R. Roth urged approval of the emergency funding, warning of dire consequences for some of the county’s senior citizens if the foundation were forced to shut down, even temporarily. About two-thirds of those served by Feedback Foundation are poor.

“In the most extreme cases, some seniors could go without regular meals at all, or possibly be forced to give up their independent living arrangements,” Roth wrote.

Feedback Foundation officials are seeking an additional $100,000, which it hopes to get from 13 cities throughout the county, and another $50,000 in donations from private citizens. The Costa Mesa City Council approved $12,000 in aid to the foundation Monday night, and the Anaheim City Council Tuesday approved $17,000 in aid.

In addition, city officials in Santa Ana have pledged $22,000, and the cities of Brea, Fullerton, Laguna Beach, Orange, Placentia and Tustin have promised contributions, Cohen said.