Senior programs meet nutritional, social needs 

While the majority of households seeking food assistance contain young children, more than a third of the Michigan households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits include adults over 60. 

“Seniors are often overlooked, and that leads to a lot of challenges and negative consequences,” said Brigit Hassig, executive director of Benzie Senior Resources. Food insecurity in older adults has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, anemia, obesity, anxiety and depression, and impaired cognitive function.  

Many seniors won’t tell their families that they are struggling financially, yet they confide in people like Sarah Howard, executive director of the Manistee County Council on Aging and Senior Center. She has heard more concerns in the last few months, and she is seeing higher attendance at senior center lunches.  

“We are seeing more new faces,” Howard said late last year. “With uncertainty about SNAP benefits and costs going too high for food, we are seeing more people (for lunch) and more of them are younger than I have ever seen. Our programs used to see older adults and now we are seeing seniors in their 60s.”  

Howard said she doesn’t have to look farther than her own family to understand why.  

“These are people who worked their whole lives who are struggling,” Howard said. “My mom is an example. She is 90 and lives at home. She was a teacher in a parochial school for 35 years. Her pension is very small. She doesn’t qualify for SNAP, but she is struggling. She has three kids who can help her, and I worry about the people who don’t have family members who can help.”  

Seniors regularly tell Hassig and Howard that they feel better when they can get fresh, nutritious foods. 

Osceola County senior Lynda credits fresh produce and dairy products from Feeding America West Michigan with keeping her Type-2 diabetes under control. She calls the help an “answer to prayers.” 

In addition to improved health, nutrition for seniors empowers them to contribute to their communities and families. A senior citizen in Ottawa County who declined to share her first name turned to a mobile food pantry late last year. She said that the food assistance helped her afford gas to drive to her son’s home to babysit her grandchildren every week. Other seniors have said food assistance helps them have food on hand when their grandchildren visit.