The Monmouth County Division of Aging, Disability and Veterans’ Services and the Division of Transportation’s Division of Demand-Responsive Services are working together to try to ensure that no senior citizen falls victim to food insecurity.
The Oxford Dictionary defines food insecurity as the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
“Food insecurity is one of those things you never really hear about unless it is brought to your attention, but it is a very common problem,” said Susan Moleon, the director of the Division of Aging, Disability and Veterans’ Services.
“A senior will save money wherever they can, so they can stay in their own home, so they can pay for their prescriptions or maybe to put money aside for grandchildren for college. There could be any number of reasons why, but often seniors on fixed incomes really do not have enough money to meet all their needs and something has to give and sometimes it’s food,” Moleon said.
In Monmouth County, there are several senior outreach programs that are active in the community, including Special Citizen Area Transportation (SCAT) and the Senior Advisory Council. The county distributes information about food pantries, soup kitchens and the services offered.
Moleon has collaborated with Kathleen Lodato, the director of the Division of Transportation, to expand the county’s senior citizen food insecurity outreach efforts.
Moleon and Lodato brought their outreach ideas to Freeholder John P. Curley and the three have been working to address the issue.
“Hunger is always an issue,” Curley said. “It is something I have really made a cornerstone during my career on the Board of Freeholders. You can balance all the budgets in the world, but there are people who fall through the cracks. It is something that is dear to my heart.”
The initiative that has evolved to address food insecurity is the Senior to Pantry program that will officially start on June 15. SCAT will take calls, set-up appointments and transport individuals age 60 and over to their nearest food pantry.
SCAT’s primary responsibility is taking elderly and disabled individuals to supermarkets and medical appointments. According to Lodato, the county plans to incorporate the Senior to Pantry program into the SCAT service.
“The Senior to Pantry program will not cost any more money because we are adding these folks into a service that is already running. They will ride on the bus with folks who have a medical appointment or are going (shopping), different appointments like that,” Lodato said.
In a development related to the provision of food to people in need, state legislation aimed at decreasing food waste and encouraging food bank donations from school districts was recently approved by the state Senate, according to a press release from state Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling (D-Monmouth).
If the legislation is signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie it could help eliminate wasting food and establish safe, cost-effective and sanitary means by which to donate unused and edible food to local food banks, according to the press release.
The Monmouth County Department of Human Services, Division of Transportation, which operates SCAT, may be reached at 732-431-6480.
