Senior Services Associates Inc. in Elgin is one of many nonprofit groups participating in rallies Wednesday to protest proposed federal budget cuts to the Older Americans Act.
The Elgin event is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. at 101 S. Grove Ave., and there will be others at Senior Services locations in Aurora, Crystal Lake and Yorkville.
Advocates are worried there’ll be “literally no dollars for the Older Americans Act,” which funds programs that provide meal delivery and transportation for seniors, said Adele Larsen, director of marketing for the Elgin office. “The older citizens in each of our communities in the state of Illinois built these communities. We can’t turn our backs on them now.”
As part of the event, staff will be helping seniors write letters in opposition to the cuts and providing information about how to contact local lawmakers. All ages are welcome to attend, Larsen said.
There’s a sense of urgency in getting the word out, she said, because the U.S. House has already voted to support the bill and the U.S. Senate could vote on it at any time.
“We are all trying to beat the clock,” Larsen said.
The Older Americans Act “funds a myriad of programs for seniors,” she said. Among them are those the provide access to transportation, prevent social isolation, deliver meals and offer assistance with Medicare and Medicaid.
Senior Services’ programs not only offer assistance in practical ways, they also deal with things like social isolation, which is considered a health issue, Larsen said. The surgeon general has said isolation is like smoking 15 cigarettes a day in terms of the effect it can have on health, she said.
“It shows how harmful being alone is,” she said.
Our staff is “so knowledgeable about it. They do it all day. They are trained. It’s so helpful,” she said.
If the cuts are made, thousands of seniors around the state would be impacted, Larsen said. An estimated 15,000 seniors receive transportation services and more than 183,200 have meals delivered to their homes, she said.
A program through which staff visit seniors at home would be affected as well, Larsen said.
Illinois receives about $54 million through the act, according to AgeOptions. Senior Services has foundational grants, does fundraisers and seeks out private donations to help support their efforts, Larsen said.
Donations are wonderful and help keep “(the agency) afloat, but those government dollars are really crucial,” Larsen said.
Activity Director Minnie Vasquez works with seniors daily. “They are worried about it,” she said. “They say, ‘This is our place. We depend on Senior Services.’”
They are also mad, Vasquez said. Many of them spent the last week making posters for the rally.
“They very much want their voice heard,” Larsen said.
“Seniors have enough to worry about with finances, home repairs and all those things,” Larsen said. “We are always there to try to calm the storm a little bit and help them through it.”
Senior Services has about 20,500 clients in Kane County.
“It’s a very precarious time,” Larsen said. “We, as an agency, are not political. We don’t care if it’s a Republican or Democrat who helps us. It’s not a partisan issue. It’s just important to get the message out and save these programs.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
