Trump administration

‘People need help': Funding freeze confusion impacts MD Meals on Wheels

Meals on Wheels of College Park says they plan to continue serving the community despite concerns and confusion regarding the loss of federal funding.

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The confusion surrounding President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing federal aid is impacting organizations, like Meals on Wheels of College Park, that receive a significant amount of those funds.

Meals on Wheels of College Park delivers affordable food to more than 200 seniors every day, but they said they might cut back on how many seniors they can serve or how much food each person gets if they lose federal funding.

“People need help,” said Lisa Ealley, Meals on Wheels College Park's board chair. “People couldn’t leave the house; people didn’t have money for groceries. So, this is why we’re here, to help those that are less fortunate.”

Meals on Wheels College Park told News4 one-third of its budget comes from federal funding. Ealley said they would try to make up the money through community donations if they lose federal aid.

“We are gonna make this happen best as we can, but yeah, there’s some stress involved. We will have sleepless nights I’m sure,” Ealley said.

Meals on Wheels volunteers tell News4, the deliveries are also a wellness check. Sometimes they have to call ambulances for the seniors they serve.

“You don’t want to think someday you’re gonna be the elderly and somebody’s gonna deliver to you, but that is where we’re all headed,” said Terry Watson, a Meals on Wheels volunteer driver.

Meals on Wheels is just one of thousands of organizations across the country that rely on federal funding to support a variety of causes like: low-income childcare and housing, homeless veterans, cancer research, drinking water and highway safety, disaster relief, opioid addiction treatment, mental health services, and rural hospitals.

“Everybody at the top that has their money, they aren’t gonna be affected. They need to turn around and look at the world and look at the people who need help,” Watson said.

A few miles away, Bob Lewis of Greenbelt, Maryland — who started getting Meals on Wheels a few weeks ago — said feeding his family was often a huge source of stress. Lewis is the primary caregiver for his wife with Alzheimer’s and his adult son with autism.

“It's a tremendous stress reliever and sort of frees up both the time and, probably most importantly, the mind,” he said.

Despite the confusion this week around federal funding, Meals on Wheels of College Park said they plan to keep serving as long as they can.

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