Arkansas Ranks No. 1 In Senior Adult Hunger

PRAIRIE GROVE -- May is Older Americans month, a celebration begun during the administration of the late John F. Kennedy.

This month's theme: "Get Into The Act," was selected to showcase that today more and more senior citizens are in charge of their "golden years" by taking care of their health, getting engaged in their communities and making a positive impact in the lives of others.

While Arkansas has a thriving network of senior centers filled with a wide variety of programs, the state also has a sad, little known secret when it comes to senior health.

Arkansas ranks No. 1 in the nation in seniors at risk for hunger.

That is a statistic that Linda Willkie, director of Prairie Grove Senior Activity and Wellness Center, wants to see changed.

And changed very quickly.

"I simply cannot stand to think that there are our precious senior citizens out there right now with not enough to eat," Willkie said, her always present smile fading from her face. "But believe you me, I know they are there and they do not have enough to eat and they are hungry individuals."

The conversation took place recently from her office. The building on Ed Staggs Drive is known as a safe gathering place for seniors to meet, have activities and eat a hot meal at noon each day. To many living alone in Prairie Grove, the center is their lifeline to life in this community. The same could be said for centers in Lincoln, Farmington, Elkins, Fayetteville and Springdale.

Willkie said she is not alone in that her fellow center directors in Washington County want to feed as many senior citizens as they can.

But Willkie explains money is in short supply.

Already this year through a cut in state funding made by the new administration, Gov. Asa Hutchinson trimmed about $1 million from senior centers to balance a budget with promised tax breaks.

Willkie was pouring over pages of paperwork to complete an application for a grant from Northwest Arkansas Planning and Development District. She hopes the district can restore money lost in the state's most recent budget cuts.

However, Willkie prefers to focus more on the alarming statistic that many seniors in Arkansas are without enough food or the proper food to eat each day.

Just 10 feet from her office, a handful of the 45 to 50 seniors, who gather each day for senior meals, sat engaged in games, casual conversation and generally helping the small center staff in setting up the noon meal.

Today the fare was, simple, nutritious: Chicken fried steak, seasoned squash and cornbread. Each meal is served with bread, milk and a dessert. A Chef salad, lettuce greens, sliced boiled egg, sliced sandwich ham meat and cheese is offered as an alternative today. A $3 donation is asked for each meal.

Some pay. Some don't, but all who show up are fed.

For many, too many, Willkie says, "this is really the only hot, nutritious meal they will have until tomorrow."

While serving some 45-50 meals in the center, another 25-30 hot meals are delivered to homes where people cannot come to the center.

And that snapshot only reflects the Prairie Grove center.

What the Senior Centers strive to do, Willkie said, is to eliminate the stigma of aging and provide programs which help older Arkansans remain in their homes with social interaction, mobile services and nutritious meals.

About one third of all Arkansans aged 60 or older, or more than 160,000 people, are living with food insecurity, according to a 2013 survey from the Arkansas Department of Human Services. Food insecurity can result in negative health effects, including malnutrition, poor overall health, extended hospital stays, premature institutionalization, increased doctor visits and increased Medicare/Medicaid costs to taxpayers.

Willkie and other center directors have been sounding the alarm for increased state and private funding for some time. Senior centers are funded about 50 percent by state and federal funds and are responsible for raising the remainder of their budgets, either through fundraisers, donations and grants.

"However we can get people to donate either their time as volunteers or their money," Willkie said. "It is a struggle, but one that we are continuing each and every day."

According to the Area Agency on Aging, senior centers in Arkansas saw a 6 percent increase in requests for meals in January 2014, compared to the year before. Due to loss of federal funding since 2008, more than 500,000 fewer meals were delivered to Arkansas seniors in 2014 than requested. In Washington County, 29,580 senior citizens are eligible for services from area senior centers, according to the U.S. Census.

Willkie doesn't like being being No. 1 in the nation for seniors at risk for hunger and she and others hope the state can get out of the No. 1 spot by focusing on the hunger needs of senior citizens.