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Grants available to feed seniors, homebound |
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Written by Staff Reports
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Wednesday, 03 September 2008 |
Commissioner Todd Staples encouraged home-delivered meal providers and non-profit organizations to apply for funding from the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Texans Feeding Texans: Home-Delivered Meal Grant Program.
The postmark deadline for grant applications is Nov. 1, 2008.
Home-delivered meal agencies provide life-sustaining meals daily to more than 100,000 homebound elderly and special needs Texans. In January, TDA awarded these agencies a total of $9.5 million through the grant program.
“In Texas alone, seniors age 60 and older are expected to number about 8.1 million by 2040, which is a 193 percent increase from 2000,” Commissioner Staples said. “As this population grows, we can expect to see an ever-increasing need for services from home-delivered meal providers.”
The Texans Feeding Texans: Home-Delivered Meal Grant Program will distribute $10 million to approved applicants by Feb. 1 of 2009. To be eligible for funding, an organization must be a non-profit organization or governmental agency that provided home-delivered meals in the past year. The entity also must receive a grant of 25 cents or less per senior resident from the county in which it delivers meals.
“We need to do everything in our power to make sure our seniors and Texans with special needs never go hungry,” Commissioner Staples said. “The grant program will allow agencies and organizations to stretch their limited resources in order to put healthy, nutritious food on the tables of our homebound Texans.”
Additional information about the grant program, the application process and program rules are on TDA’s Web site at www.tda.state.tx.us under “Grants/Funding.” Call (512) 463-6908 for more information. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 September 2008 )
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