Every weekday at noon, dozens of seniors gather for a congregant meal at the Senior Recreation Center operated by Elder Care of Alachua County. They are served a plated lunch with nutritional value, but equally important, they have company—peers to sit with and share a meal. 

“My wife passed away six years ago, and I’m not much of a cook,” said Dennis Durant, 77. “I came down to senior citizen center and said I would like to buy a homecooked meal.” 

Durant learned that the meals aren’t sold, but he could have one free. And he’s been coming ever since. 

“We have this meal is for two reasons,” Durant said. “One is for socialization with people and secondly so that all our seniors can have good nutrition.” 

There were six people sitting at the table with Durant. They said they generally sit with each other at every lunch. The buzz of people talking and laughing as they shared a meal was a real indication that they were getting more than food from their daily encounter – each other’s company. 

The free meal program is meant to fight against food insecurity among seniors, many of whom are on fixed incomes and sometimes need to choose between having a meal or getting needed medication. 

“Florida ranks in the top 10 states for senior food insecurity,” said Susan King, president and CEO of Feeding Northeast Florida. “The most current data we have is that there are about 530,000 food insecure seniors in Florida. They are everywhere.” 

King said that data, which is about two years old, means that about 8.5% of seniors deal with not having enough food. 

“It is a significant issue when you look at the increasing population for the state of Florida,” she said. “Between 2030 and 2040, the senior population is anticipated to increase by about 12 to 13%, reflecting the fact that 25% of all people living in Florida will be seniors.” 

Patrick Dodds, executive director of Bread of the Mighty, said hunger is an increasing problem across the board, with one in eight people in Alachua County going hungry. 

“When we look at seniors, the numbers are even more dismaying: It’s one in six,” Dodds said. “The metric for which we should gauge the success of our society is how well we serve our youth and elderly, and if we are using that as our metric, we need to do a better job.” 

Bread of the Mighty, which this year became a branch of Feeding Northeast Florida, has been serving the community for 36 years. It collects, sort, stores and distributes donated food and essentials to over 200 nonprofit agency partners, such as food pantries and feeding programs. 

“We act as a central hub for emergency food assistance that happens in the community,” Dodds said. “We salvage and rescue food from major grocery retailers. We pick up food that would no longer be marketable—it’s still edible, still safe, but food they would normally toss out we pick up five days a week.” 

Dodds said Bread of the Mighty picks up about 20,000 pounds a day, with its trucks going out full to distribute to the community through its partner agencies. 

On a recent day, Dodds went on site where Trinity United Methodist Church was distributing food at Majestic Oaks, a low-income community in southwest Gainesville. Meats, water, produce and bread products were all available. 

Mission Director Kelly Ping said the organization goes on site to two food pantries twice a month at Celebration UMC near Archer and Majestic Oaks. 

“We come [and] set up with our tables, volunteers. Bread of the Mighty shows up with the food, we package it into family-size bags and people grab one bag from each station,” she said. “We do have a lot of seniors who come through the line.”  

McLinda Gilchrist, 73, lives just around the corner from Majestic Oaks. She says the food distribution events help low-income families, especially seniors. 

“They can barely pay their bills and food is so high,” said Gilchrist, who said she works a part-time job. “Seniors, we store up because we know how tough it is. I am on a fixed income, and I struggle. It helps keep food on the table because I am raising two great grands and two grandkids.” 

Feeding America, a national network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs, reports that seniors who care for grandchildren are more likely to experience hunger because they may have trouble purchasing food for their family on a limited income. 

On its webpage, Feeding America reports that over 5 million seniors were food insecure in 2021, with seniors of color more likely to experience hunger. 

Elder Care director Jeff Lee said his organization has two primary meal programs: congregant meals and home delivery. 

“For congregants, there is not a waiting list, and for those who can get to a meal site, we can provide them a lunch,” Lee said. “But for those who are unable to do so, they have to go to the homebound meals on wheels program. And for that there is a waiting list in excess of 1,400 people,” he said, noting there is no wait list for those who can pay $8 for a meal. 

Elder Care also offers congregant meals in Archer, High Springs, Waldo and Newberry, although meals are only available on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in Newberry. The program is funded through grants and donations. 

“Meals are very nutritionally sound and created to meet one-third of nutrition needs,” Lee said. “This way we can make sure they are getting at least one meal that is nutritionally balanced.” 

Again, the interactions that come with the meals are as important as the nutritional value, since it might be a senior’s only interaction with the outside world. 

“They develop a safety net and new friends,” Lee said. “We know pretty much who shows up on a regular basis, so if Susie is not there, we can reach out and make sure she’s OK.” 

Editor’s note: This is part of Mainstreet’s ongoing Aging Matters series. It was independently reported by Ronnie Lovler and underwritten by Elder Options. Some reporting was made possible by Lovler’s acceptance as a fellow into the 2022 Age Boom Academy, a program of the Columbia Journalism School, the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, and the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.