Grants Available for Home-Delivered Meal Providers

AUSTIN — After a lifetime of hard work, no elderly Texan should have to look to nursing care as a means of getting meals. In an effort to help deliver nutritious meals to the home of these elderly Texans and our state's disabled citizens, the Texas Department of Agriculture today announced the availability of $10 million in grants available to non-profit groups, faith-based organizations and local governmental agencies through the Texans Feeding Texans: Home-Delivered Meal Grant Program. 

"Texas senior citizens were raised during the Great Depression, they defended our freedoms in World War II and won the Cold War; now it is our turn to protect them," Deputy Agriculture Commissioner Drew DeBerry said. "In Texas today, we have an estimated 270,000 seniors who are food insecure, many of whom are homebound. Through the Texans Feeding Texans program, we are able to help provide nutritious meals on a daily basis to these elderly citizens and disabled residents who are confined to their homes."
The Texans Feeding Texans: Home-Delivered Meal Grant Program was created during the 80th Legislative Session in 2007 to give supplemental funding to home-delivered meal providers. The grants, based partly on the number of meals eligible applicants served the year prior to applying, can only be used to supplement and expand existing services related to the delivery of meals. Eligible entities are non-profit organizations and governmental agencies. Applicants must partner with their county to be eligible for the program.

 "Our home-delivered meal count has doubled in two years, and we get new requests each month," said Nancy Harrington of the Montgomery County Committee on Aging. "Without the Texas Department of Agriculture funding, we would have a huge waiting list, with many people never getting served."

Since 2008, the Texans Feeding Texans: Home-Delivered Meal Grant Program has awarded providers approximately $29 million, helping them serve more than 13 million meals annually statewide.

Home-delivered meal providers are encouraged to apply for the Texans Feeding Texans: Home-Delivered Meal Grant Program by visiting www.TexasAgriculture.gov and clicking on Grants/Funding. Applications will be accepted Sept. 1 – Nov. 1.