In response to the escalating number of seniors struggling to put food on the table, Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger has launched the second year of its Solutions to Senior Hunger in partnership with the Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies. The initiative is designed to help low-income, food-insecure seniors get the nutrition assistance they need. Jewish Family & Children’s Service in the greater Phoenix area is participating to help local seniors.
Solutions to Senior Hunger, which is generously funded by the Walmart Foundation, is designed to reduce the barriers that keep vulnerable seniors from enrolling in the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Thirteen Jewish human service agencies in 13 states have signed on to participate in the new round of this initiative. With support from Mazon and the AJFCA, these agencies will conduct SNAP outreach and education to senior populations (ages 50 and over), administer SNAP application assistance for eligible clients and act as a liaison between the client and their local government agency managing SNAP.
“Deeply embedded in Jewish tradition is the belief that the community has an obligation to sustain its most vulnerable,” says Mazon President and CEO Abby J. Leibman. “It is unacceptable that a rising number of our nation’s seniors struggle to put meals on the table when we have programs like SNAP that could help them buy nutritious food. As the only national Jewish organization focused exclusively on issues of hunger, Mazon is uniquely positioned to do this work. We bring 30 years of experience in the anti-hunger field, shaped by Jewish values and tradition, to a population that too often suffers in silence.”
JFCS Senior Concierge Janet Arnold is heading the project locally. Janet says all congregations have been notified of the program and she is working to get the word out to both the general and greater Jewish populations.
“For example, I recently met with the Goodwill Career Centers staff and will be working with their Senior Community Service Employment Program for those 55 and older,” she says. “We’re also working with the East Valley Adult Resources and will be getting around the Valley.”
Janet encourages any older adults who have food insecurities to contact her. “There’s a simple online questionnaire to pre-qualify that can be completed in just a few minutes and indicates the probable dollar amount of the assistance. From there, we schedule a longer appointment to complete the necessary paperwork and comply with the requirements.”
Contact Janet at [email protected] or 480-599-7198.
