Federal cutbacks aggravate shortage of services for Fairbanks area’s rapidly growing senior population
Fairbanks Senior Center officials worry that federal funding cuts will limit the organization’s ability to provide Meals on Wheels to elderly people who need the nutrition-assistance program.
Executive Director Darlene Supplee says the nonprofit has for years been delivering food to the area’s growing population of elders, both at their homes through Meals on Wheels and with so-called congregate meals served at the Senior Center.
“So we serve approximately 240 people a day, including a congregate program,” she said.
Supplee says the Center also helps out other area organizations that provide meals to elderly people, including the Fairbanks Native Association and a North Pole-based assisted-living facility called Eagle’s Wings. But in recent years, the Senior Center has struggled to pay for the nutrition program, partly because its state funding hasn’t risen for a couple of years now.
“There's approximately 31 people on our wait list,” she said in an interview last week. “We have gone up to as high as 50. The aging population is growing so quickly and funding is not keeping up.
Cabinet-level agency cutbacks
To make matters worse, the Trump administration is now cutting federal support for senior-nutrition programs from the Department of Health and Human Services. The president’s executive order issued last month cut more than 40% of the staff that oversees programs for seniors. It also ordered parts of the agency to be reorganized, including the Administration for Community Living, or ACL, which oversees Meals on Wheels nationwide.
“With ACL and then the layoffs within the health and social service department here in the state of Alaska, it is very hard for me to say Meals on Wheels is not going to be impacted, short term or long term.”
Until recently, the Senior Center got 70 cents for a plate of food that costs about $4. Now, it’s getting about 30 cents a plate. The organization pays for the rest of the meal through its own funds, as well as federal, state and local matches; donations from the public and businesses; and volunteer labor.
Supplee says she thinks her organization will be able to keep all elders who are now getting Meals on Wheels. But it won’t have enough money to add more to the waiting list.
“If we don't have the funds to put the food on the plate, then our waiting list builds,” she said.
The Trump administration’s layoffs and cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture budget will make the veggies that go on those plates more expensive, says Ashley Edgington. She’s the Senior Center’s Meals on Wheels volunteer coordinator.
“The USDA has a lot of funding directed at our local food banks so that they can purchase local fresh produce, and we go to the food bank,” Edgington said.
Supplee says the volunteers who deliver the meals also keep an eye on the seniors to make sure they’re OK.
“Meals on Wheels is a wellness check,” she said. “Meals on Wheels is a knock on the door. If somebody's fallen, we're gonna find them” and call for help.
The need for the program will continue to grow over the next few years. The state projects steady growth in the number of elderly people in the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the coming years, especially those 80 years of age and older.
'There's a silver tsunami coming'
“I've been at this job for 14 years, and so I've been saying the same thing for 14 years now: there's a silver tsunami coming. It's the baby boomers that we need to prepare,” Supplee said.
“The 80 and older cohort has a 211% growth rate between 2025 and 2030,” she added. “If we have 5,080 and older in the year 2030, and we have 300 assisted living home beds, how are we going to safeguard them?”
She says all the turmoil in Washington frustrates the caregivers and the elders they care for.
“The employees come work every day to support the mission -- very difficult to do if you are hearing about mass firings in health and social services that really doesn't have any rhyme or reason.”
Supplee says elders also are rattled by news reports about other Trump administration proposals to close Social Security offices and suggestions that Medicaid funding also may be cut.
“It is a very big concern for seniors,” she said.
That’s why the Senior Center is partnering with Meals on Wheels America, a nationwide organization that’s helping nonprofits and seniors they care for support the program. It also provides advice on how elders can contact their elected officials to express concern over all the cutbacks.
“I get that there are a lot of seniors that don't do technology,” Supplee said, referring to the sometimes-challenging task of navigating elected officials’ websites. “And so picking up the phone and making a phone call, all you have to do is speak to a recording. That's it -- ‘I'm a senior and I'm worried about my future.’ ”
She said the Senior Center has begun posting messages on Facebook encouraging senior citizens and their families to contact the organization.
