Free meal service set to end for senior citizens in East Bay

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, Calif. - Hundreds of people who rely on a weekly breakfast service in the East Bay are bracing for the program to end.

The Breakfast Bag program offered by Meals on Wheels Diablo Region will conclude on Oct. 2. Notices went out with the latest round of deliveries informing clients the service will be suspended due to government funding cutbacks. 

The board chair for Meals on Wheels Diablo Region Lindy Maynes-Kolthoff said the service is unique, as it is the only one in the greater Bay Area that serves free breakfast meals to more than 400 clients each week. The clients are unable to cook for themselves, are homebound, and limited in their mobility. The grocery bags are filled with items including, a cup of cereal, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, veggies, a salad, a single-serve carton of milk, and a bagel.  

"A number of clients rely on breakfast before receiving medical treatments like chemotherapy," she said. "I am often told by clients that they do not know what they would do without the delivery of the breakfast bags."

Maynes-Kolthoff and other volunteers who deliver the weekly meals are disappointed because the clients rely on the program for healthy nutrition. 

 "I feel so bad for our clients," Donna Harris, a volunteer, said. "They really depend on us."

Gayle Jackson, who has been delivering meals as a volunteer for the past couple of years, said many of her clients don’t have a pension and survive by relying on social security.

"One client of mine said she can't afford to buy milk," Jackson said. "She's another one who can barely walk five or ten feet."

One of the breakfast bag program recipients she delivers to is June D’eon of Martinez who is in her 70s. 

"I’m sad," D’eon said. "I get it because I don’t have a car, and I don’t have any transportation, and I’m not a spring chicken."

Aside from the food, the volunteers provide social and emotional support. For some, it’s the only interaction their clients will get each week.

"Sometimes we need to call in because there’s an issue, or they are declining in some way," Russell Stephens, a volunteer, said. "I don’t understand why they cut [the program] in the first place. These are the people who need help the most. It’s a terrible thing."

The volunteers hope a last-minute miracle will get the program reinstated. The organization told clients it hopes to bring back the program in the future. The cuts only affect the breakfast bag program. Regular frozen meals will still be delivered. 

Anyone who wishes to donate can visit Meals on Wheels Diablo Region or email development@mowdr.org.