WASHINGTON — Budget cuts are stealing meals from elderly Americans all across the country, according to a new survey by the Meals On Wheels Association of America.

The association represents about 5,000 local senior nutrition groups in every state, coordinating volunteers who deliver a million meals a day to poor senior citizens. Since 1972, the federal government has helped pay for the meals through the Administration on Aging, which did not escape the 5.1 percent cut to non-defense discretionary spending this year, also called sequestration.

Meals On Wheels surveyed 640 of its local member organizations on how they’ve coped since the cuts took effect in March. Forty percent of programs have eliminated staff positions. Seventy percent are putting more people on waiting lists, increasing the number of those on waiting lists by an average of 58 seniors per list. And programs have cut an average of 364 meals per week.

‘Every day, Meals on Wheels programs provide a lifeline by serving meals to our nation’s most vulnerable, frail, and isolated seniors,’ association president Ellie Hollander said in a statement. ‘The real impact of sequester is that our programs don’t have the ability to expand to meet the growing need. We should be investing […]