Bills or meals: a decision some senior citizens face daily

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – During the holidays, many people organize or donate to area food drives.

Families, children, and the homeless are some of the ones in need, but there’s another group that is often overlooked.

When people think of retirement, they think of living out their golden years with their savings or perhaps with social security.

However, experts in the Golden Triangle said living on a fixed income, in many cases, is simply not possible.

Sometimes, senior citizens have to choose between paying bills or eating.

“Our seniors are the forgotten group out there. Nobody cares about them… but I do, and the people that work here do,” said Rudy Johnson.

Johnson is the Executive Director for the Golden Triangle Regional Planning and Development District.

He’s worked with the Area Agency on Aging for almost 30 years.

He said elderly people who live on fixed incomes often face tough decisions.

“We go into homes where their social security check is $400 a month. So, when you talk about medicine, what is somebody going to do? Are they going to buy their medication? Are they going to pay their electricity bill? Are they going to pay their water bill? Are they going to pay their gas bill? … Or are they going to eat,” said Johnson.

That’s why Johnson, through state and federal funding, helps run a meal delivery service for the elderly and disabled.

The service delivers about 400,000 meals a year to seven different counties, but there are still folks on the waiting list.

“We shouldn’t have anybody on a waiting list, but when we serve four hundred thousand, we just run out of money,” said Johnson.

Area food pantries often step in to pick up the slack.

“We collect food all through the year. We help people all throughout the year. It’s busier this time of the year, though,” said Tatiana Burgess.

Burgess is a cashier at the Starkville Salvation Army. She said the majority of the people who come in looking for food are elderly.

“That’s typically most of all the people that we help because they’re retired most of the time, so they can’t go to work, so they just come here and ask us if we can help them with as much as we can,” said Burgess.

Burgess said, technically, her store is only supposed to help out if it’s an emergency.

“Sometimes it’s not really an emergency, but you just know. People just aren’t able to help themselves at the moment, so I just try to use my best judgment on it and help them out as much as I can,” said Burgess.

Johnson hopes that one day Senior Citizens will be better-served in the community.

“When is the last time you saw a commercial about a senior needing a home-delivered meal… or a senior needing a meal, period?… you know, I love animals, but every time you turn your TV on, you see a dog, and you see people wanting to take care of that dog,” said Johnson.

Johnson said there are about 200 to 300 people waiting to be put on the meal delivery program within the Golden Triangle Region and surrounding counties.