Published in RINewsToday on November 25, 2025
Today, nearly 13 million older Americans worry about having enough to eat, and a 2020 University of Michigan poll conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic found that 56% feel lonely—a level so severe it has been declared a public health epidemic.
Although the historic federal shutdown has ended, reimbursement for local Meals on Wheels providers remains uncertain, warned Meals on Wheels America (MOWA) President and CEO Ellie Hollander in response to the passage of the continuing appropriation ending the federal government shutdown.
According to Hollander, these funding delays caused serious financial strain for 9 in 10 local programs, which depend heavily on federal dollars through the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program. In fiscal year 2024, for the first time in a decade, this federal program was cut. About 41% of providers rely on it for at least half of their operating budgets, she stated.
Hollander noted that prior to the 43-day shutdown, one in three Meals on Wheels programs had a waitlist, with an average wait time approaching four months—and some stretching to two years. The lingering effects of the shutdown, combined with flat federal funding and recent cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, will only deepen food insecurity among older adults and cause waitlists to grow even longer, she predicted.
Providing Nutritious Meals to Rhode Island’s Most Vulnerable
Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island (MOWRI) is one of 5,000 community-based providers (operating both home-delivered and congregate meal programs) nationwide, serving an estimated two million older adults, in total. Collectively, there are more than two million volunteers and 100,000 paid staff supporting these efforts.
MOWRI is not an affiliate of MOWA and is an independent nonprofit organization. MOWRI reports a strong fund development portfolio, in addition to federal and state grant through the Older Americans Act and administered by the R.I. Office of Healthy Aging. The organization expects to raise more than $1 million through grants, individual donations, corporate partnerships, events and campaigns this year. Each year, more than 1,500 individuals make a gift to MOWRI.
A Solid History in RI
Founded in 1969 by gerontologist Joseph Brown, MOWRI began by serving hot lunches that met one-third of an older adults’ daily dietary requirements to just 17 Providence seniors along a single delivery route. By 2024, the organization had grown significantly. That year, 472 volunteers drove a combined 398,100 miles, visiting 3,738 clients Monday through Friday across 260 service days. Volunteers delivered 421,553 meals on 90 delivery routes statewide and conducted 328,000 well-being checks and social visits.
In 2025, MOWRI is serving 77% more meals each weekday than five years ago and has expanded its reach to more at-risk populations in addition to homebound older adults, including pregnant and postpartum women and those living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses.
Responding to changes in federal funding for nutrition programs, combined with next year’s state economic outlook characterized by moderate revenue growth, MOWRI released its 15-page 2030 strategic plan, Building Resilience, Deepening Impact, last week. “Our bold new strategy will allow us to extend our reach and improve the lives of even more Rhode Islanders through expanding our role as sector leaders, ensuring sustainable organizational growth, increasing our impact, and driving quality in all that we do,” said MOWRI Board President Christina Pitney in a statement announcing the plan on Nov. 19.
5-Year Plan Expands Nutrition & Wellness for Homebound
According to MOWRI, its five-year plan “utilizes a ‘Food for Service model’ to concurrently tackle food insecurity and social isolation with the goal of reducing loss of independence among homebound and frail older adult Rhode Islanders.” MOWRI’s Home-Delivered Meal Program offers daily, fully prepared nutritious meals to homebound Rhode Islanders delivered right to their door. With the delivery of the meal, the volunteer driver performs a safety-assuring wellness check along with a social visit.
MOWRI’s Emergency Meal Program is a component of the home-delivered meal service. This program is specifically designed to provide a back-up supply of non-perishable food for clients to ensure that they have access to food if their regular daily meal delivery is interrupted by severe weather or other emergencies.
Eligibility for the traditional Home-Delivered Meal Program requires clients to be age 60 or older or qualify through a state waiver program. Participants must be homebound—unable to safely leave home without assistance—and cannot be enrolled in adult day care or a community dining program on days they receive home-delivered meals. For the Capital City Café Program, clients must be 60 years of age or older, or under 60 and living with a disability or receiving general public assistance.
MOWRI enters the 2030 planning period from a position of exceptional strength, the strategic plan notes, stating that its paid staff and volunteers have delivered more than 21 million meals to date and expanded services statewide, including Block Island. With decades of experience supporting older adults through nutrition, safety checks, social connection, and health-focused programming, the organization is now preparing for its next phase of growth. However, the plan also acknowledges rising service demands, stagnant public funding, and increasing competition, while emphasizing that MOWRI’s strong financial reserves, trusted reputation, and culture of innovation provide the foundation for deeper impact.
Stakeholder input, interviews, data analysis, and national best practices all point to the same conclusion: MOWRI must expand its role in the health, aging, and equity ecosystems while building the infrastructure necessary to sustain long-term progress. The strategic plan suggests that MOWRI’s “More Than a Meal” model evolve into a public health intervention. With changing demographics among the state’s aging and vulnerable populations, the organization seeks to further expand home- and community-based services to persons with disabilities, people under age 60, rural residents, school-aged children, perinatal clients, and those living with chronic illness.
MOWRI also seeks to enhance private-pay options designed for caregivers, individuals living alone, and those recovering from surgery or illness.
Recognizing the Importance of Partnerships
The strategic plan calls for using its existing and new partnerships with hospitals, health care systems, Medicaid providers, and insurers to allow the organization to support hospital discharge planning, chronic disease management, and post-hospitalization recovery. Meanwhile, this plan also foresees standardized health assessments and referral practices conducted during meal delivery, ensuring that staff who have direct in person interaction with clients and volunteers play a direct role in supporting participant health and safety.
The strategic plan calls for providing medically tailored meals that meet both the clinical and cultural needs of clients, elevating MOWRI’s position as a statewide demonstration site for Food-Is-Medicine initiatives.
The organization also intends to investigate nutritional counseling and other health-supportive services that improves medical outcomes and promotes aging in place. Additional priorities of this new strategic plan include the establishing well defined criteria to evaluate new programs based on its organizational mission, fiscal stability, and organizational capacity; strengthening the organization through succession planning, leadership development, expansion of volunteer base, and targeted recruitment; and adopting organization-wide data systems to improve evaluation and decision-making.
Increased use of the Mobile Meals app will streamline delivery operations along with strengthening communication, enhancing participant monitoring, and supporting healthcare collaboration. Existing and new partnerships with academic institutions expands the organization’s research efforts. A new organizational dashboard can assist MOWRI’s leadership track key indicators and allocate resources effectively.
Finally, the strategic report emphasizes the importance and value of advocacy and its visibility. As competition from for-profit and tech-enabled providers grows, the organization must elevate its position on policies and clearly communicate the unique value of personal connection, wellness checks, safety monitoring, and culturally responsive services.
Overall, MOWRI says its strategic plan positions the organization for sustained growth and expanded impact by 2030.
“Our future will not be without challenges, and we are focused on ensuring that every Rhode Islander has access to the nutrition, connection, and dignity they deserve,” says Executive Director Meghan Grady.
For more information on volunteering or making a gift to support MOWRI’s statewide impact, please visit www.rimeals.org.
Monthly Archives for November 2025
Solo Agers are Living Alone. And Liking It
Published in RINewsToday on November 17, 2025
The Washington, DC–based AARP highlights the growing population of “solo agers” in the November/December 2025 issue of AARP Bulletin. These adults, age 50 and older, live alone without a spouse, partner, or anyone else under the same roof. According to the survey, this group now numbers 24 million—about 21% of Americans over age 50. More than 500 adults ages 50 to 95 were surveyed, including those who have never married as well as individuals who are divorced, separated, or widowed.
A key theme of the Nov. 10 released study emerges: solo agers enjoy their independence. Thirty-five percent of respondents said the best part of living alone is the freedom and autonomy it provides. An 82-year-old female solo ager summed it up this way: “The freedom to do whatever you please, whenever you want to do it.”
Taking a Close Look at America’s Solo Agers
Still, loneliness remains a significant challenge. Twenty-two percent said it is the hardest part of living alone. A 57-year-old male respondent noted, “Being lonely when there is nothing to do and not going out with friends and family.”
Despite this, the study found that many solo agers are socially connected with friends, family by volunteering and staying active in the community. According to the survey’s findings, more than half of the respondents say their social life is excellent or good. Two in five (40%) have lived on their own for 20 years or more. Respondents say that they found joy in spending time with friends (63%), pursuing hobbies and special interests (59%), connecting with family (57%), and even engaging in physical activity (55%).
Still, they say that living alone is concerning to them. While many of these solo agers say they are in good health, many of these individuals worry about losing their independence (68%) and declining physical strength or stamina (62%).
Financial worries are also common. Just 54% rate their financial situation as excellent or good. Two in five express concern about having enough money for retirement (41%) or for paid care that would help them remain independent at home (39%). Adults ages 50–64 are far more worried about retirement savings than those 65 and older (59% vs. 32%).
The AARP Bulletin article stresses the importance of solo agers maintaining a strong social support network of family, friends, neighbors, and their caregivers. It also offers tips on financial, legal, and social strategies to help them maintain their autonomy, enhance their well-being, and reduce loneliness.
Being Solo and Alone in Rhode Island
A 71-year-old freelance writer, referred to as “Jane,” tells this writer about her experiences living solo as a divorced woman. Throughout our interview, she discussed her personal life, finances, and health. Even as a Solo Ager, she told me of the independence and freedom she has enjoyed for 27 year. “I’m independent. I do what I want. I answer to no one. I control my life,” she told me.
As to the primary drawbacks of living alone, Jane cited handling home repairs without a “resourceful” partner and dealing with illness. She had recently recovered from a significant health issue that had temporarily impacted her physical well-being. There was no one immediately available to provide care, driving home the vulnerabilities of living alone.
“I felt lonely, anxious, or sad being alone, especially when I didn’t feel well,” Jane admitted.
Jane detailed her close relationship with her two middle aged children and three grandchildren, along with the companionship she receives from her two cats. She says that these cats provide her essential companionship and structure to a daily schedule routine of feeding and spending time with them. This keeps her from negative habits like oversleeping.
As to her social network, Jane described herself as having a few close friends but not being a “joiner.” But being semi-retired it is easy for her to take the afternoon off and meet these individuals for lunch.
As to her ongoing amicable post-divorce co-grandparenting relationship with her ex-husband, “We were ships passing at noon when one of the grandchildren was very young. He would do the morning shift and I did the afternoon shift – same with another grandchild on a different day of the week.” But, in the years since their divorce, they were there for each other in one crisis or another, be that illness, or a burst water pipe.
As to solo living, Jane also touched upon her financial situation. “The house is a little difficult because I’d like to downsize, but I’m stuck,” she says, explaining how a low mortgage rate would make it difficult to sell and then get into another mortgage or a condo with higher costs than she’s paying now – a 2% low-interest mortgage is financially advantageous, but is more house than she needs or wants.
Jane’s story, reflecting many of the findings of AARP’s recently released study, counters the existing stereotypes of older, single women being viewed as lonely, instead it portrays a life that is full, independent, and deeply connected to family. However, her financial picture could also present practical challenges reflective of many seniors trying to survive in the current economy.
According to AARP, interviews were conducted February 13–17 and March 13–17, 2025, with 876 U.S. adults age 50 and older through the Foresight 50+ Omnibus. The sample included 503 solo agers—adults living alone and not married or partnered. The study was funded and operated by NORC at the University of Chicago. Foresight 50+, created by AARP and NORC, is a probability-based panel designed to represent the U.S. household population age 50 and older.
AARP noted that Researchers compiled data by both phone and online interviews. Data was weighed by age, sex, education, race/ethnicity, region by AARP membership to ensure national representation.
Senate Aging Committee Seeks Renewal of Older Americans Act
Published in RINewsToday on November 10, 2025
With over 359 days until the mid-term elections, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Aging held a hearing last week to emphasize the need for reauthorizing the Older Americans Act (OAA), a crucial piece of federal legislation that expired the previous year. The hearing highlighted the key role OAA plays in assisting Americans living with age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as their caregivers.
Last reauthorized in 2020, the OAA expired during the 118th Congress. S. 4776, introduced by Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the committee’s ranking member, passed the Senate by unanimous consent last year. However, the House failed to pass a companion measure due to unrelated political disagreements.
Senate Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Reauthorize the OAA
On June 18, 2025, Chairman Cassidy, alongside nine co-sponsors, reintroduced the OAA Reauthorization Act of 2025 (S. 2120). This 91-page bill would authorize new funding a strengthen services for older Americans. The bipartisan bill was referred to the Senate HELP Committee the day it was introduced, where hearings, markups, and a committee vote are expected. If approved, it will move to the full Senate. As of press time, a companion bill had not yet been introduced in the House.
Chairman Cassidy’s co-sponsors include Senators Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Rick Scott (R-FL), chair of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and Susan Collins (R-ME).
Although S. 2120 closely mirrors last year’s S. 4776, there are notable differences. Specifically, it would reauthorize OAA programs through FY 2030 and increase funding by 18% over the next four years. It also includes measures to promote innovation, strengthen the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, and expand the National Family Caregiver Support Program. Additionally, the bill aims to improve services for Tribal elders and older adults with disabilities, ensuring these populations remain active and supported in their communities.
S. 2120 would also address elder abuse by establishing a clearinghouse for best practices, focusing on legal and protective services to strengthen state ombudsman programs, adult protective services, and related legal supports.
Senate Aging Committee Hearing Highlights Call for S. 2120 Passage
On November 5, 2025, Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) of the Senate Aging Committee held a full committee hearing titled “Renewing Our Commitment: How the Older Americans Act Uplifts Families Living with Aging-Related Diseases.” The hearing, which took place in SD-216 at 3:30 p.m., focused on how OAA-funded programs provide critical support to millions of Americans with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The goal of the hearing was to push for the passage of S. 2120 with bipartisan support.
In his opening statement, Chairman Scott emphasized the importance of reauthorizing the OAA to ensure that programs and services keep pace with a rapidly growing aging population—one increasingly affected by Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, placing greater demands on caregivers.
“More than 7 million older Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and nearly 1 million are affected by Parkinson’s,” said Scott. “Behind these numbers are caregivers—a husband, a wife, a son, or a daughter—providing unpaid, around-the-clock care.”
“Every service made possible by this law [OAA] represents compassion made real,” he added.
Ranking Member Gillibrand opening statement pointed out that most people are unaware of the OAA’s existence, despite the fact that one in six older adults benefit from its programs. “In 2024, the OAA generated 3.39 times its investment in community value and taxpayer savings. Through efficient service delivery, older adults avoided 1.9 million days of long-term hospital stays and institutional care,” she said.
“It’s not the time to take our foot off the gas,” Gillibrand continued. “Even though there have been minimal interruptions in service delivery since the Act’s authorization expired last year, it is vital that we pass a reauthorization this fall to modernize the statute and reflect the evolving needs of older adults.”
The three witnesses at this Senate Aging Committee hearing shared how OAA-funded services—such as adult day centers, home-delivered meals, caregiver support, and specialized exercise programs—helped them to maintain their health, and independence. They pointed out that these community-based services not only provided caregivers with the critical support, more important they were cost-effective alternatives to more costly nursing home care.
Key Testimonies Highlight the Impact of OAA Programs
Erick Montealegre, a volunteer community educator for the Alzheimer’s Association and a caregiver for his father, who was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, told the panel that adult day care centers and home-delivered meals—funded by the OAA—had made a “world of difference” in his father’s quality of life, providing essential respite care for his family.
Montealegre highlighted the importance of these programs being culturally and linguistically appropriate. His 84-year-old father, who had lost the ability to speak English and reverted to speaking his native Spanish, benefitted greatly from services that met his language needs.
“This hearing is especially meaningful to me because it’s taking place in November, National Family Caregivers Month,” Montealegre noted. In conclusion, he said, “Reauthorizing and strengthening the Older Americans Act is an investment in our families, our dignity, and our community.”
Steve Sappington, who has lived with Parkinson’s disease for the past ten years, explained that an OAA-supported exercise program, Rock Steady Boxing, has significantly slowed the progression of his symptoms. Recounting his experiences in living with Parkinson’s, he noted that he went eight years without having to increase his Parkinson’s medication after starting the boxing program. His neurologist called it a “miracle” and said he had never seen anything like it before.
“Programs like ours are possible because of the foundation laid by the OAA,” Sappington said. “Local OAA-funded services—such as transportation, congregate and home-delivered meals, caregiver support, adult day services, and other vital programs—make it possible for older adults like me to stay active and connected.” He urged Congress to reauthorize the OAA to ensure continued support for these essential services.
However, Sappington also pointed out that many older adults remain unaware of the services available to them, emphasizing the need for culturally competent outreach, particularly to low-income, rural, and minority communities.
Duana Patton, Chief Executive Director of the Ohio District Five Area Agency on Aging and Board President of USAging, emphasized that Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) serve as the “front door” to a network of local, community-based services. She argued that the OAA represents a cost-effective investment for the federal government, as its programs help older adults remain in their communities, which is far less expensive than placement in costly nursing homes.
“The longer older adults can successfully age at home, the better it is financially for families and the federal government,” Patton explained. Having worked in the AAA field for over 31 years, she cited the example of “Ms. Gray,” a client who, after receiving in-home personal care and meals funded by the OAA, no longer required hospital readmissions due to the significant improvements in her health.
The witnesses stressed that the OAA needs to be promptly reauthorized, strengthened, and modernized to provide local agencies with the flexibility required to meet the evolving needs of their communities.
A Final Note…
“We hope the Senate’s OAA reauthorization bill (S. 2120) can move forward soon, either under Unanimous Consent or attached to another legislative vehicle,” says Amy Gotwals, Chief of Public Policy and External Affairs at USAging. “While the House has yet to announce a specific plan, USAging, along with other aging organizations, is advocating for a bipartisan, bicameral bill that will pass before the end of the year.”
Gotwals notes that, although the reauthorization is important, it is not immediately necessary to ensure continued funding for the OAA. “President Trump’s budget, along with both the Senate and House FY 2026 bills, protect all but one OAA program—the Title V Senior Community Service Employment Program. If there’s a year-long Continuing Resolution, all programs will be protected,” she adds.
“The shutdown remains our biggest challenge right now,” Gotwals concludes.
Herb Weiss 