SENIORS AND SENIOR HUNGER

Senior Hunger

After working their entire lives, low-income seniors face difficult choices.  Their very small, fixed incomes are expected to absorb the cost of housing, utilities, medical costs and food.  Their limited retirement, savings, Social Security or disability doesn’t last long enough and many report cutting food out of their monthly expenses.  Increasing costs also prevent seniors from covering all their monthly needs.  Seniors’ fixed and stagnant incomes simply can’t keep up with inflation.

Seniors are also among the most physically vulnerable to hunger. Lack of access to nutritious and nutrient rich food compromises the health of seniors in significant ways and are critical to the unique conditions related to aging.  Hunger deteriorates the mental and physical well-being of seniors.  Chronic health issues like diabetes and hypertension are worsened, leaving seniors at risk for increased long-term care and longer hospitalizations. And increasing age creates limited mobility for some seniors. Limited mobility impacts the ability of seniors to attend food distribution sites without a considerable effort.  Seniors or loved ones must coordinate transportation to accommodates for wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, pick up and drop off times and other issues.

Hunger research shows:

  • 21% of people in our food lines are seniors
  • Chronic health conditions among seniors experiencing hunger are also higher.
    • The rate of diabetes is 46%  in households with seniors experiencing hunger.
    • The rate of high blood pressure is 73% in households with seniors experiencing hunger

Every day until 2030, 10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 65. As the largest single generation in history begins to retire, senior hunger is expected to grow significantly.  Several Feeding America reports on senior hunger show that senior hunger has not returned to pre-recession levels.

At Roadrunner Food Bank, we are actively looking at new ways to address senior hunger including for grandparents raising grandchildren. “Grandfamilies” is a trend that has been increasing. These unique families often fall further into poverty as many grandparents are primary caregivers and responsible for their grandchildren. It often means two generations are at-risk experiencing hunger together as seniors are often retired and don’t have enough resources to cover increases to basic expenses like housing, healthcare, food, school and other child-related expenses.

Currently, there are a variety ways we provide food assistance to seniors. Read more about them below.