While Texas seniors suffer one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country, only about half are enrolled in federal food assistance programs, a large problem that nutrition experts say is “about to get massive.”
Chef Chris Williams of Lucille’s restaurant, right, and Lucille’s 1913 Conscious Community Collective staffer Aaron Jones help unpack meals for seniors facing food insecurity on Feb. 10, 2022, in Houston.Chris Williams and his employee, Karon Jones, watched as residents of the Anna Dupree Terrace senior living community in Sunnyside lined up at lunchtime earlier this month to collect boxes of tilapia with olive tapenade, carrots and green beans.
Texas has the fifth highest ranking for senior hunger in the United States. The national average among seniors hovers around 7 percent. In spite of the state’s higher risk level, only about half of Texas seniors are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program , according to Feeding America.reinforcements to the social safety net
“Because of the growing senior adult population, this will be the hunger issue that we face in the next two decades.… This problem is about to get massive,” Everett said. “It’s a great program that benefits vulnerable Americans, and bringing people in is good, especially since it doesn’t cost Texas anything,” he said, noting, “It’s all federal dollars.”
The lunchtime visit to Anna Dupree Terrace is part of a program Williams started at the beginning of the pandemic to aid seniors with limited access to good meals. Williams founded the popular Lucille’s restaurant in the Museum District and
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