AKRON, Ohio — Senior citizens Denise Dinkins and Norvella Jones carefully organize Mobile Meals on a table inside Belcher Apartments, an Akron Metropolitan Housing Property on Locust Street near Downtown.
Sometimes the women eat the meals that are delivered four times a week, but more often, they give the food to other residents who need it more.
"It's important because of a lot of times this will be the only nutritional meal that they have," Dinkins said.
Without Mobile Meals, Jones believes that some residents would struggle to find food.
"Most of these people don't even have microwaves in their house and there's no stores around here," Jones said.
Mobile Meals provides regular nutritional meals to low-income, elderly and disabled individuals in Summit, Cuyahoga and Portage Counties.
"Some people who can't cook, some people who don't have access to being able to cook, and this allows them to stay in their home," said Director of Community Impact Marihelyn Horrigan.
Horrigan calls the deliveries "a lifeline" to 478 current clients.
However, in recent months, 144 other people were cut off from meals and referred to other programs, in part, due to a dramatic drop in funding.
"They fell under— we get certain buckets of funding— and that bucket of funding that was received was gone," Horrigan said.
According to Horrigan, state and federal funding that supports the delivery program has decreased by $350,000 since 2019, and the cost of food has increased significantly during that time.
Additionally, Horrigan noted that there are more than 350 people on the Mobile Meals waiting list.
With proposed cuts to food aid in both state and federal budgets, the agency's survival is becoming a real concern.
"We are going to be annihilated. That's the only way I could say it," Horrigan said. "We just don't know if we're going to be able to continue to survive."
The financial struggle for Mobile Meals is worrisome for both Dinkins and Jones.
"If they stop, what's gonna happen?" Dinkins said. "A lot of people would be hungry, and a lot of seniors in here that can't come out of their apartment."
Jones added, "We're human, just like everybody else, and we're praying they don't cut us out."
Horrigan believes public awareness of the budget crisis is crucial.
"Our CEO is adamant that this is not going away. It's just, how are we going to make it work?" Horrigan said.
Horrigan feels help is needed to get through the challenging time, possibly through donations, fundraisers, or help from restaurants and local businesses.
She also said neighbors helping neighbors could be very important at the moment.
"If that's been cut, maybe while you're making a meal, you bring them a meal over. It's getting back to our grassroots, community taking care of community.
Horrigan said that by October, Mobile Meals should know if more state or federal money is coming their way. However, she stressed that in past years, the nonprofit would have already known that money had been allocated by this time of year, so she's not optimistic that any government funds will improve the financial picture this year.
"We need to be prepared as an agency on how we're going to be able to continue to serve these people because they are an invisible population," Horrigan said.
