Donations to Meals on Wheels surged to 50 times their daily rate Thursday, a spokesman for the network told CNN, after the White House proposed "deep cuts" to the nonprofit, which serves 2.4 million Americans.
Senior citizens in one suburb outside Detroit could see Meals on Wheels deliveries cut in half if President Donald Trump's budget cuts become reality, the spokesman, Jenny Bertolette, told CNN.
Bertolette said the surge in donations occurred after the White House proposed eliminating the Community Development Block Grant program. While the block grants fund only a small portion of Meals on Wheels' operations nationwide, Bertolette said some of the group's 5,000 branches rely on the money to dole out food to people.
A Meals on Wheels branch outside Detroit, Bertolette said, would lose one-third of its budget without the grants. The branch in San Jose, Calif., would lose $100,000.
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The actual effect of next year's budget on the program is unclear -- in part because Trump's budget plan is thin on details. The proposed elimination of the $3 billion block grant program would mostly affect housing programs -- not food services.
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A Section on 03/19/2017