The Salvation Army’s senior program faced a $15 price rise in its monthly food plan for senior citizens this past October, according to an employee.
The Salvation Army, located on 225 Bowery, has a small section to the left of the information desk, where the senior program is held daily. Walking down the long hallway towards the main room where its kitchen is, music was playing in the background as the lunch special — turkey and corn — was being served to mainly senior citizens who are over 55 years old.
“Even though we get a lot of low- or no-income seniors in our program, they still have to pay for the additional charges,” said Connie Tsang, the coordinator of the senior program at the Salvation Army. “There are new charges for eating here and for some of the activities too.”
The charges include an extra $15 to the previous $45 monthly food plan for senior citizens, and for regular visitors under the age of 55, they are charged an additional $20 to the previous $60 monthly meal plan. The increases in prices were made to make sure that there is a secure funding for the program to supply all senior citizens with gifts, good food, and supplies for crafts for the upcoming holidays such as Christmas and Chinese New Year, Tsang said.
“Every year, when there are big holidays coming up, we need as much funding as possible to ensure that the seniors are keeping up with their good health and to do that, we try to serve delicious healthy food and get them involved in the holiday spirit,” said Tsang. “Donations are always welcome, but this year we fell short in donations. One way we get our donations is from the money collected from the bell ringers with the red kettles, but with the cold weather, not many people want to stand out in the cold.”
As lunch started to end, all the senior citizens took a part in cleaning up, some swept and some wiped down the tables. An elderly woman age 68, Choi Ying Li, didn’t mind the cleaning or the price increase, said, “[Price increased is because of] Bad economic… This place is cheap, if I go home for dinner, that’ll cost more than a meal here.”
“We’re hoping that this month the revenue we receive will cover the costs of the foods and the gifts,” said Tsang.