COLUMBIA --- The way Frank Johnson sees it, delivering more meals to senior citizens in Barnwell County gives delivery people more chances to check in on people who might not see another person all day.
The area is receiving $148,000 in federal stimulus money for home-delivered and group meals, which area officials say is desperately needed.
"Many times the home-delivered meal, that might be the only outside contact the recipient will have," said Mr. Johnson, the executive director of Generations Unlimited in Barnwell County. Seniors qualify based on criteria such as income and disability.
The center delivers 120 meals a day and serves 30 to 40 to a group that comes to the Barnwell facility. In at least one instance in Jasper County, a staff member delivering a meal might have saved a resident's life.
"We had a case where the woman had fallen," said Rebecca Smith, a client services specialist for the Jasper County Council on Aging. "She had a cane, so the driver could hear her beating on the window. If our driver hadn't been there, God only knows how long she'd have been on the floor."
The $148,000 in extra funding is intended to stretch through fall 2010, according to the state Office on Aging.
By mid-June, the state had received $328 million of its $2.8 billion portion of the federal stimulus package, a report from the comptroller general's office said.
The senior meals cost the government $5.25 to $5.75 each, according to the Fiscal Year 2009-12 State Plan on Aging.
Reach Sarita Chourey at (803) 727-4257 or sarita.chourey@morris.com.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
While assisting the aged is a wonderful cause, I'm not certain what it has to do with stimulating the economy.
Yeah, I have to agree, although it's a noble thing, it is not exactly creating jobs which is what the stimulus is supposed to do.
Who will feed them when the "stimulus" runs out?? Who was feeding them before the "stimulus". This is exactly the problem with Obama's "stimulus". The money did not "stimulate" anything because it mostly went to welfare programs and when the money runs out people will be addicted to the programs and will be looking to the state and local taxpayers to continue them. Exactly what Sanford and Palin and a couple of other conservative governors were warning about. But the government welfare mentality has prevailed. Let's steal the money today and not worry about what happens next year. As usual. Find a teat and pucker up.
Should have given them chinese food, ya know, since china paid for it.
That was a good one atctaylorb@10:11.Happy 4th of July.
Question aside of how appropriate this funding is, related to economic stimulus, does anyone have a real suggestion for how we feed the old and the poor?
For those that have trouble recognizing the economic stimulative effect of providing meals for the "seniors," here's a little help for you: (1) The raw materials for the food are provided by businesses/farmers, who will receive money in exchange for the goods they provide; (2) People will prepare and package the meals, who will be compensated for doing so. These people are working at what is know as "jobs." Now, I know that for folk like patriciathomas and other neanderthals, it is quite disappointing that people on the lower rungs of the economic/financial ladder may actually benefit from this program, in addition to the "seniors" who are receiving the meals. And, isn't mad_max quite something? -- Sanford and Palin are the poster children for what is wrong with politics and politicians. And, I say that not because they are Republi-cons. Rather, it is because they are mendacious, dogmatic, self-aggrandizing ignoramuses. Sanford has shown himself to be the Chief Narcissist of South Carolina, and Plain is just a flipped-out dingbat. The financial hole which has been dug for this Republic didn't start with Obama. He is just another sorry politician who keeps shoveling.
Bottom line is this. MOST senior citizens have CHILDREN THAT SHOULD BE CARING FOR their parents.. DOES ANYONE IN THIS COUNTRY REMEMBER THAT CONCEPT that was indigenous to the natural personality traits of the human race until this welfare state begin in this country? Probably not since the majority of people in this country now are quite frankly ignorant of history in general.....Those elderly that need assistance will ALWAYS get the TOTAL & proper assistance from the rest of us able bodied Judeo/ Christian ACTING fellow citizens...However the current political leaders in this country are by their words & actions resentful of these principles that founded this country & are hell bent on ridding our society of these principles. This of course will leave them (THE GOVERNMENT) in charge of EVERY FACET OF your pathetic life since YOU are not capable of caring for yourself or loved ones.. Let the government take care of me...let the government take care of my parents..let the government take care of my children..what a sad, pathetic, weak minded, spineless bunch that has been left to carry on the principles of this once great powerful & Godly country...
Able-bodied one minute disabled the next. Employed one minute unemployed the next. In the blink of an eye, change. Young, working, stimulating the economy and taking care of your ungrateful (explicative) one generation, elderly, not as able, depending on the kindness (or lack thereof) of a sad, pathetic, weak-minded, spineless bunch in this generation. Keep on living honey and keep on blinking.
To: well_I-think ----- Your comment is quite creative, indeed; a nice bit of poetry that expresses a profound fact-of-life that precious few comprehend.
TheKnave, that’s an interesting philosophical point you make about creating jobs that will enable people to be fed for free or giving them other things for free. Sure it takes a few people to give things away, but if you use the money for purposes that are not give-aways such as building highways or something such as that, you create jobs that accomplish tasks that will allow the economy to grow. A good highway means improved transportation to get goods to market. To continue, there comes a breaking point when you are creating jobs to give away things instead of creating jobs to more efficiently build the economy and more jobs. However, I do see your goals as being altruistic.
And don't forget, Knave, families are relieved of the pressure to take care of parents and grandparents who cared for them. It's let the government do it. It does all sound good on paper. But if the government will do it.......? Reminds me of a client (well many) I had. Grandmother was eligible for free meals, never mind her grandchildren had moved in with her, bringing their children. They had to fix for themselves and their children. So what's one more, especially since they are living there for free while Grandma is getting other subsidies. Dang if they didn't have a better cable package than my own family was able to afford at the time.
This is typical Democratic wealth transfer. It's not really about job creation.