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ALTON – Country artists Rodney Atkins and Jana Kramer along with local favorite “The Harman Family” will be performing on Saturday, July 16 at the Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater for Senior Services Plus (SSP)’s 7th Annual Feed the Need benefit concert for Meals on Wheels.
Meals on Wheels is a program that allows low income and at-risk senior citizens to receive 33 percent of their daily nutrition and remain living in their own homes. Meals on Wheels seniors not only rely on SSP’s program for quality food but for social interaction and safety, and both are steadily decreasing. Before the state budget crisis, SSP staff would deliver a warm meal daily, Monday through Friday, to the individuals in need. Now, only five frozen meals are being delivered once a week.
Associate Executive Director Theresa Collins has been on many delivery runs with the program and has seen the direct effects it has on people. She recalls a woman pleading for an extra slice of bread because the meals provided were her only meals being provided with nothing else in addition to. Collins describes another delivery where she gave a recipient a plant donated from a church’s Easter service. The woman was overjoyed saying, “You don’t know how much this means to have another living thing in my home with me.”
“It was like a punch in the stomach,” Collins said. “It really brought back to reality the importance of that program. It’s more than just a meal.”
SSP’s Meals on Wheels program caters to 22 townships throughout Madison and St. Clair Counties. Over the past nine years, the program has provided 1 million meals, feeding over 6,000 homebound seniors. In the past year, 450 meals have been delivered daily.
“It’s my survival food,” is what William Bono of Alton says when describing the meals delivered to him by Meals on Wheels.
The annual Feed the Need concert is a way to bring the community together to help the local Meals on Wheels program while enjoying great music. The cost of a general admission ticket is the equivalent to ten days of meal donations.
Ticket prices begin at $40 and individuals are able to purchase tickets online at www.metrotix.com, at the Alton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, or at Senior Services Plus, located at 2603 North Rodgers Avenue in Alton. Meet and Greet tickets are also available for each artist for $50 exclusively at Senior Services Plus or by calling 618-465-3298.
Senior Services Plus is a non-profit United Way agency established to help enrich the lives of older adults through programs and services that encourage independent living and provide opportunities and resources to individuals as they age. SSP offers a wide variety of affordable services to all ages from fitness and travel to Meals on Wheels and homecare. To find out more about the organization or this event, please visit www.seniorservicesplus.org or call 618-465-3298.
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