What Is the Role of the Federal Government in Feeding the Hungry?

I think they play a pivotal role, I don't think that they on their own should or can solve the problem. I think it's very important that we have public private partnerships and I think Meals on Wheels is a wonderful example of that. For every dollar the federal government contributes to the program, individual Meals on Wheels program can leverage about $3 and $0.35 to attract additional funding.

So the government only contributes about 30% of the total budget from Meals on Wheels but it's an important percent. It hasn't kept pace with inflation nor the ancient population, so even though it's at 30% right now, it's diminished over time considerably so we're not keeping pace.

But I think it's a very important role, the alternative is that people end up going to a hospital when they don't need to and end up hospitalize in long term care facilities which are far more costly for Medicate and Medicare then it would be simply to provide a meal.