SENIORS’ MEAL PLAN IN PERIL

Miami-Dade has spent $70 million delivering more than 8 million meals to seniors in the pandemic. It’s scheduled to end this week.

As the coronavirus crisis hits a new peak, MiamiDade is preparing to scale back one of its most expensive and ambitious programs to protect residents from the virus and isolation: a $70 million delivery operation that dropped off more than 8 million meals to the homes of elderly residents.

The planned Wednesday “sunset” of the emergency effort has charities alarmed about their ability to pick up the slack and county commissioners pushing Mayor Carlos Gimenez to spend more to extend the program.

The Gimenez administration said meals will continue to be delivered but mostly through socialservice agencies and charities. The county will continue with a smaller operation to fill in the gaps, a Gimenez spokeswoman said. “No one will go hungry,” said Patty Abril, Gimenez’s press secretary.

But charity leaders aren’t sure what the announced “sunset” of the program means.

“We’re very concerned about it,” said Max Rothman, director of MiamiDade’s Alliance for Aging, an umbrella funding organization for charities serving older residents. “There’s not enough money out there to absorb it all.”

Administrators said Friday night the county is trying to bring more order to a program that started with an open invitation to every older resident in Miami-Dade to request home meals at the start of the start of the COVID crisis. Enrollment came through Miami-Dade’s 311 line and from client lists of closed senior centers that once provided daily meals.

With costs approaching $4 million a week, MiamiDade is trying to shrink its client list by ending deliveries to residents who either already get meals from another non-profit or are eligible for that service. Maurice Kemp, the deputy mayor who oversees social services, said the county will continue delivering meals if replacement providers aren’t found.

“We are not abandoning our seniors,” he said.

The operation has been historic in terms of logistics and costs.

Using private companies, Miami-Dade paid for delivery crews to drop off seven

CHARLES TRAINOR JR. MIAMI HERALD STAFF Miami-Dade has spent about $70 million delivering home meals to the elderly during the COVID crisis and is reserving $15 million in federal relief money to extend the program on a limited basis past July 15. It’s a small portion of the $942 million in relief Miami-Dade has been awarded under the federal CARES Act and other programs tied to the COVID pandemic.