CARROLLTON, Ohio — About 20 seniors 60 or older pick up food boxes once a month at the Carrollton Senior Friendship Center — but administrators believe hundreds more could benefit if those boxes were delivered directly to their homes.
The boxes are part of the Federal Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides monthly food assistance to qualifying seniors. Jo Albright, 79, is among those who receive one.
"I call it the senior box to get, to help out so that I would have food coming in," Albright said.
Albright said the program is essential for people in her situation.
"A lot of us are on low income and so we need this help," Albright said.
Kevin Martin also drives to pick up the boxed food, but said some seniors are reluctant to come in for the assistance they need.
"Because of the stigma that goes with it. They think it's charity," Martin said.
Martin said transportation is another barrier in rural Carroll County, where some seniors don't drive or find long round-trip trips impractical.
"It is long way from here to Sherrodsville. It's a long way from here to Amsterdam. It's a long way to anyplace," Martin said.
Ohio Sen. Jon Husted recently introduced the Delivering for Rural Seniors Act, which, if passed by Congress, would create a three-year pilot program to deliver food boxes to underserved seniors, including some in Carroll County. The program calls for $10 million in annual funding.
Agencies like the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank would use delivery services like DoorDash to deliver the boxes directly to seniors' homes.
Tonya Myers, director of Carrollton Senior Friendship Center, said removing the in-person requirement would significantly expand access.
"In truth, I feel like we would be able to get food to more people when they didn't have to walk in the building to get a food box. That alone is going to be a big piece of it," Tonya said.
Marisa Wren, a representative from the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, said the need among older Ohioans is significant.
"Our older Americans are some of our highest rates of food insecurity in the state of Ohio so any additional access we can help provide...would be just really instrumental," Wren said.
Greg Lawson of the Columbus think tank Buckeye Institute said he views the program positively but urged caution with finances.
"If this does happen, we need to be very careful about future expansions of it. It should always be very narrowly tailored to the populations that we're talking about here," Lawson said.
For Martin, the potential program could be a difference maker for seniors in rural communities.
"Any program that can get food to the people that need it that are far away that are elderly, yeah, that's a good program," Martin said.
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