EPISODE 313

Meals on Wheels not only delivers hot, nutritious food to seniors — it provides an important social connection to people who may be lonely or disconnected. Meals on Wheels even makes older people safer!  Meals on Wheels America’s chief policy offer, Josh Protas, tells us all about this amazing program that, unfortunately, faces possible funding cuts.  As a historian, he also answers the question:  do our current leaders have a ‘compassion deficit?’ 

TRANSCRIPT:

ANNOUNCER: It’s You Earned This, the Social Security and Medicare podcast, brought to you by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. And now, your host, Walter Gottlieb. 

WALTER: Meals on Wheels. I always love that name because it rhymes. and it says exactly what that organization and its affiliates do. They bring hot, nutritious meals to seniors who need them, or they’re served in a congregate or communal setting. It’s a very important program. 

But the Trump administration and the White House budget are proposing to cut some of the grants that support Meals on Wheels, even though it not only provides much-needed nutrition, but it also provides these seniors with some social contact, some company that they may need to avoid isolation and loneliness. Today, we’re joined by Josh Protis. He is the Chief Advocacy and Policy Officer at Meals on Wheels America. We’re so happy to have him here to talk about this great program and what it does. Josh Protis, welcome. 

JOSH: Thanks so much. Glad to be here, Walter. 

WALTER: Thank you for doing this, Josh. Tell us first, what is Meals on Wheels, and what is the specific mission of Meals on Wheels America? 

JOSH: So, Meals on Wheels, I think maybe it’s familiar in just the name to many of the listeners. Meals on Wheels provides moments of nutritious meals and moments of social connection and care for older adults. And that happens through home-delivered meals, which I think most people associate with Meals on Wheels. But most of our member programs are also meeting the needs of seniors in congregate dining settings. So, trying to address those needs for nutrition and social connection. Meals on Wheels programs, and the Senior Nutrition Program nationally, were set up through the Older Americans Act, and we have been doing this for more than 50 years through local community-based programs. They respond to addressing the needs of seniors living there and do just such fantastic work, day in and day out. 

WALTER: And what is the difference between the Meals on Wheels program in general, and your organization, Meals on Wheels America? What’s the relationship? 

JOSH: Meals on Wheels America is the national association that works on behalf of thousands of local, community-based providers, and there’s really a broad range of what those local organizations look like. There are some very small nonprofit entities that may be serving in a rural community. They’re all volunteer-run and respond to what their communities need. And then there are other programs that are quite large, maybe serving a big metropolitan area, and we work on behalf of that entire network. 

WALTER: I want to touch on something you mentioned in your first answer. Meals on Wheels not only provides nutritional sustenance, but also social sustenance. Can you talk about that for a minute? 

JOSH: Yeah, it’s foundational in our program model. We know that social isolation and loneliness are enormous issues. The last surgeon general declared those issues as an epidemic in this country, and it’s particularly acute for older adults.

So that social connection piece is so important, not only because we don’t want seniors to be isolated and alone, but we know that it contributes to better health outcomes when they’re not feeling isolated and lonely. And the moment of social connection is so profound and so powerful for the seniors that we serve. 

We often like to say the “power of the knock” is fundamental to our programs. And for volunteers who go out and deliver meals, and they knock on the door and see the face light up when an older adult opens the door, they’ve been looking forward to that meal delivery, not just for the food, but for that companionship, for that connection. And, it’s an important safety and wellness check as well. These are eyes and ears on that older adult. Sometimes, it’s the only point of contact that they have in the course of that day, or maybe even the week. We hear routinely from programs where a volunteer has gone out to deliver a meal, and there wasn’t a response to the door, they were able to enter and find that the senior had fallen and was not able to get up. In some cases, it’s a life-saving call that happens when they can call first responders. Were it not for that friendly check-in, those eyes and ears, it could be a really different outcome. 

WALTER: So, it’s not only socialization, it’s safety. That’s what it sounds like. 

JOSH: Absolutely. Volunteers are trained to identify if there’s a risk in the home, so they try to address fall risks. And if they recognize a need for other supportive services, most of our programs make those referrals if they can’t address those needs themselves.  

WALTER: Josh, do you have to be lower-income to receive Meals on Wheels, or is any senior who needs home-delivered or congregate meals eligible? Like, I know older couples who are not hurting for income, but dinner is like spraying some cheese whiz on a cracker.  

JOSH: Right. So, local programs would conduct an intake to assess an individual’s social and economic needs. Many programs are dealing with inadequate funding, so they have wait lists. So, really difficult decisions have to be made about how to gear services toward those in greatest need. Under the Older Americans Act, programs are required to ask for voluntary contributions. And so, in many cases, if someone has the economic means, they 

WALTER: Josh, what impact did the government shutdown that ended in November of 2025 have on food assistance for older Americans? And how is that related to the disruption of SNAP benefits that happened during the shutdown? 

JOSH: Great question. The shutdown, the disruption of SNAP benefits, exacerbated a crisis. Even before the shutdown, Meals on Wheels programs were struggling to serve all their communities. Before the shutdown, one in three Meals on Wheels programs reported keeping a waiting list. Average wait time of four months, in some cases two years or even more. And many providers don’t have reserves or contingency plans, or don’t have deep reserves.

So, they’re still waiting—even though the shutdown’s done—into early 2026 before they get reimbursed, for services already delivered. Add on top of that, with the delay in SNAP benefits being issued for November, and many more people were coming to Meals on Wheels programs for help. 

WALTER: Let’s talk a minute about the Trump mega bill, which we call the Big, Ugly Bill. It cut something like a quarter million dollars from SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. And that doesn’t even take effect until 2027. So, we haven’t seen the worst of it yet. It sounds like you’re saying the shutdown made a bad situation worse. And now what? 

JOSH: Well, so yeah, the SNAP cuts a quarter of a trillion dollars. So, part of the changes in SNAP are an expansion of the so-called “work requirements” to include more older adults. So previously, those work requirements applied to individuals up to age 59, I believe. And now, that will go up to 64. So, for older adults up to 65, they potentially could face losing SNAP benefits, where they really depended on them to help meet their basic needs. 

WALTER: And Josh, you are a trained historian, I believe. 

JOSH: My kids like to remind me that I have a terrible memory. So how could that be if I’m a historian? But, indeed. 

WALTER: Yeah, well, you know how it is. We remember the panic of 1893, but not what we did yesterday. 

JOSH: Fair enough, yes. 

WALTER: So anyway, you are a trained historian, as you and your children have pointed out. Has there been a point in the modern history of our country when our elected leaders seem to lack empathy for the less fortunate in our society? 

JOSH: Well, I think in the modern era, we’ve been accustomed to programs that have empathy sort of built in. You think about the New Deal programs, and really a shift under Franklin Roosevelt and the establishment of safety net programs as we understand them today. That was enhanced in the Great Society — and we’ve had ebbs and flows. You think about the Reagan administration, there were some very serious cutbacks to safety net programs, and also to national rhetoric. 

So, I think we see some ebbs and flows to that, and many of the challenges we’re facing today I think, are fundamentally about what the proper role and scope and responsibilities of the federal government are. It’s a little disheartening that some of this is being called into question, and that’s why it’s so important for advocates to be vocal. 

WALTER: We as advocates have been fighting to preserve these programs, including the Older Americans Act, which was passed in 1965 and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and was a key part of the Great Society, along with Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs all turned 60 years old last summer. 

JOSH: We celebrated the 60th anniversary of many of those, and I’m sad to say for the Older Americans Act, it is hanging out there without being reauthorized. We’re pushing for Congress to take up that bill by the end of the year, and really take a win and to send a message that older adults are a priority. 

WALTER: Well, thank you for what you’re doing and we will reinforce that effort into our listeners, we’ll say: “If you don’t want to see the Older Americans Act go away, then contact your elected representatives right now.”

Josh, Meals on Wheels depends in large part on volunteers to deliver meals. In fact, the father of our Director of Government Relations and Policy used to do ride-a-longs with Meals on Wheels in San Diego, well into his 80s. 

JOSH: That’s fantastic. So many people have personal experiences with Meals on Wheels. Whether it be an elderly loved one who was a beneficiary—my grandmother is an example of that—or people who have served as volunteers and get involved. And (we) encourage your listeners to do that. 

One of the most powerful things we do is to invite members of Congress to go out and do meal deliveries, and to see firsthand the power of that knock on the door. And people really are profoundly moved when they have the experience themselves. 

WALTER: So, I do want to ask, finally, how can people help? And where do they go if they want to help? 

JOSH: Meals on Wheels America has just launched a campaign going into the holiday season. It’s titled “Silent Night.” And if you go to our website, you can find information on that. We know that far too many seniors have silent nights that turn into silent weeks, silent months, and sometimes even silent years, where they’re left hungry and alone. 

So, we’re trying to raise awareness about this profound challenge, and encourage people to support Meals on Wheels programs, to lend their voices in the call for increased federal funding, and to get involved in volunteering. So, if folks go to mealsonwheelsamerica.org, there is all kinds of information about how to support our efforts, to raise awareness in your communities, and to get involved. 

WALTER, Josh, thank you so much for everything you and Meals on Wheels America are doing. And then thank you for so eloquently laying out the entire case. 

JOSH: Well, thank you so much for the interest in Meals on Wheels. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this important program. And thanks for the attention, for all the listeners. 

WALTER: You’re welcome. Our organizations have linked arms before, and we shall continue to do so into the future. All right, Josh, well, good luck with the Silent Night campaign and everything else. 

JOSH: Thanks, Walter. I appreciate it. Take care and have a great holiday season. 

WALTER: And you can find out more about Meals on Wheels, or even volunteer for them. Check out mealsonwheelsamerica.org. That’s Josh’s organization. And go ahead and visit ncpssm.org. That’s ncpssm.org to find out all about what we do here at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. 

Our engineer is the one and only Shahab Shokouhi. Our editor is the magnificent Steve Lack. And I am Walter Gottlieb saying: “You earned this!”