How LIFE Butler County program helps to keep inflation, food insecurity at bay for seniors
In a time when inflation is still affecting the lives of everyday Americans, retired seniors with a fixed income are feeling the pinch.
According to statistics from the USDA, 11.4% of households with an adult age 65 and older living alone are food insecure nationwide, nearly double the figure of 6% from 2006. What’s more, according to U.S. Census figures, 6.9% of Butler County residents age 65 years and older, 2,840, are below the poverty line in terms of income.
According to the nonprofit Feeding America, more than 9 million seniors could experience food insecurity by 2050 if current rates of food insecurity and population growth remain constant.
“The overall costs of everything, from utilities to the food that they’re eating, has put seniors in a difficult position,” said Beth Herold, director of the Butler County Area Agency of Aging. “Their income is not going up, but they continually have to pay more for food, more for their water bills, more for their electric, more for their prescriptions.”
This means that more seniors have had to turn to outside programs to keep up with their nutritional needs. For those in Western Pennsylvania’s “Living Independence For the Elderly” programs — including the one at West Diamond Street in Butler — that means turning to the Supplemental Nutrition Program.
LIFE — known in other states as PACE, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly — is a statewide managed-care program that provides medical services for those 55 years and older while allowing them to live independently. Butler’s LIFE program is one of four operated by VieCare, with the others located in Kittanning, Aliquippa, and New Castle. All four feature the Supplemental Nutrition Program.
As the name indicates, the Supplemental Nutrition Program, not to be confused with the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a supplement to LIFE’s regular meal services. The program provides a daily continental breakfast and a hot lunch. Under SNP, participants have additional meals and groceries delivered to their homes.
“The program makes it easier for seniors to obtain food by eliminating barriers such as transportation and affordability, ensuring they have consistent access to balanced meals,” said Darla Evans, director of nutritional services for LIFE. “With demand for these services increasing, support is more critical than ever.”
As of February, according to a statement from LIFE, 189 seniors benefit from the organization’s food assistance programs across all four counties, including 39 in Butler County.
“With grocery prices continuing to rise, the demand for this service is at an all-time high,” said Harold Aughton, director of system marketing for Lutheran SeniorLife.
“I have had difficulty with food insecurity for the last few years. I’ve often had to pay family members and other people to get groceries for me,” said LIFE participant Barbara Chaffins. “The cost of living has increased, and my choices of food that I can eat is very limited.
She said she is no longer able to afford items like eggs and fresh fruits and vegetables.
“I have had to adjust my grocery list,” she said. “I’ve been able to make payments on my regular bills, but I have to pick and choose on other things.”
For example, she said she pays for cable, but not internet service because of the cost.
“I’ve had to choose between purchasing food or paying my bills,” another LIFE participant, Daniel Knight said.
He said since moving into a new, more expensive apartment about a year and a half ago, he has less than $100 for expenses every month.
LIFE established the Supplemental Nutrition Program in 2018, under the guidance of Lutheran SeniorLife Foundation president Jane Bittcher. It wasn’t long before the program proved its usefulness, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sharp increase in the number of participants across all four LIFE counties — Butler, Armstrong (in Kittanning), Beaver (in Aliquippa), and Lawrence (in New Castle).
As the world transitioned to working from home, the Supplemental Nutrition Program transitioned to delivering meals directly to seniors’ homes — specifically, 7,845 meals across all four LIFE counties in a four-week period in 2020 alone. For this, the program received a “Healthcare Workers of the Week” award from Lutheran Services of America.
Today, the program still delivers meals directly to seniors’ homes.
“With the increase cost of my living situation, I have had a lot of help from the LIFE program,” Knight said. “I’m able to keep up with all my bills due to everything LIFE has done for me.”
“I don’t know what I would do without the LIFE program helping me every day,” Chaffin said.
According to a release from LIFE, the program has been funded in part through grants from organizations such as the Ethel Verney Foundation, the Ira R. Wood and Frances Wood Charitable Trust, the Margaret M. Patton Charitable Foundation and the PNC Charitable Trust.
However, the program does accept donations from the public through its website.
“We are blessed with generous support from both the Lutheran SeniorLife Foundation and our generous donors,” Evans said.
For Butler County seniors who are not part of the LIFE program, the Area Agency on Aging maintains a host of programs to assist seniors in need of food or other social determinants to health. These include assessments for people over 60 to determine whether they qualify for state and local welfare programs.
“We can go out and assess individuals and we can look to see if home-delivered meals would help,” Herold said. “We can look at whether they’re enrolled in SNAP benefits, whether they’re aware of food pantries that are in their area.
“We look at their expenses, and then we hook them up with local resources, and then we can supplement with resources that we have here. We can refer them to the senior centers where we provide lunch programs, and we can provide them with community meals”
