Meals On Wheels donations have exploded in the last few days
Yahoo reports that donations and volunteers for Meals On Wheels—the series of not-for-profit programs that bring food and human contact to elderly and disabled people unable to leave their homes—have skyrocketed in the last few days, in response to a newly proposed federal budget that would remove some of the funding for their services. “We received 50 times the normal amount of donations yesterday,” said Jenny Bertolette, vice president of communications at Meals on Wheels, noting that these donations were to the national group, which acts as support for more than 5,000 local programs across the country. “Local programs fundraise individually,” she added, “And we can assume that there was likely a groundswell of local support, as well.” (The group also “saw an almost 500 percent jump in volunteer sign-ups through its AmericaLetsDoLunch.org Ad Council website,” apparently.)