Sonoma County senior citizens who want free meals delivered to them through the Meals on Wheels program — which doubles as a way to provide social support to the homebound elderly — are having to wait in a line that is growing longer by the day.
Rising costs and federal funding cuts have forced the program, which distributes meals to an average of about 1,000 seniors a day, to accept new clients only when people already receiving meals discontinue the service.
That’s something that hasn’t happened in at least the last 20 years, said Marrianne McBride, president and CEO of the Santa Rosa-based nonprofit Council on Aging, which operates the program.
“We’re finally in a position where we couldn’t continue providing Meals on Wheels at the same level that we have for the last several years,” McBride said. “We have finally implemented a waiting list, and that waiting list is growing very quickly.”
In a month and half, the waiting list has grown to 174 people as of last Friday, she said. Only when someone stops the program — for reasons including their homebound status changing, transfer to nursing facility, or death — can others be added in, she said.