Seniors organize against possible funding cuts to services like delivered meals, rides

The nonprofit Senior Services Associates held an Aging Advocacy Day event at multiple locations in McHenry, Kane and Kendall counties to raise awareness of potential funding cuts to the Older Americans Act.

The statewide day of action held by multiple nonprofits asked people to urge state and federal legislators to keep the Older Americans Act, a federal law signed 60 years ago that aims to provide services to older adults including providing meals, caregiving, transportation and home care.

More than 40 people gathered Wednesday for the event called “Don’t Blow Out the Candles on the OAA” at the Crystal Lake Senior Services Associations location at 4704 Three Oaks Road. The organization, which provides services to people ages 60 and over, along with people with disabilities and their caregivers, also has locations in McHenry, Elgin, Aurora and Yorkville.

More than 471,000 Illinoisans were served through OAA funding last year, according to an AgeGuide news release. Last year, the act received $2.37 billion in federal funding on a national level, according to the Library of Congress.

If all OAA funding ceased, more than 180,000 home-delivered meals, nearly 15,000 rides and more than 5,000 health screenings would be lost statewide each month, according to AgeGuide.

“The Older Americans Act funds a statewide network of services that do more than meet basic needs – they help older adults live fuller, healthier lives,” AgeGuide CEO Marla Fronczak said in a news release. “These services are for all of us as we age – from caregivers carrying heavy burdens to older adults facing isolation. We must remind legislators: These aren’t line items – they’re lifelines. Cutting them isn’t an option.”

The push comes after the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the President Trump-backed “One Big, Beautiful Bill” last week. If passed by the Senate, the Congressional Budget Office estimates 8.6 million fewer people would have health care coverage and 3 million less people a month would have Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, food stamps benefits with the proposed changes, according to the Associated Press. Other programs under the Older Americans Act also face funding cuts.

And as part of Trump’s and Secretary of Health of Human Services Robert Kennedy’s efforts to “Make America Healthy Again,” the HHS announced a “dramatic restructuring” in March that included a reorganization of Administration for Community Living, which coordinated many of the Older Americans Act programs.

“Critical programs that support older adults and people with disabilities will be integrated into other HHS agencies,” the HHS announced at the time.

But detractors say cuts would not only affect older adults, but also caretakers, who are commonly family members, Senior Services Associates Executive Director Micki Miller said.

“This is ridiculous, in my opinion, that they’re not reauthorizing this,” she said, “because at the time when the greatest number of seniors are becoming seniors – the Baby Boomers – what are they thinking? We need services more than ever right now.”

Woodstock-based Independence Health and Therapy uses OAA money to fund caregiver support services like counseling, Executive Director John Buckley said.

“If you look at McHenry County, there are probably about 40,000 unpaid caregivers in the county, predominately circling an older adult population, and quite honestly, about a third of that caregiver population – so you’re looking at about 13,000 caregivers – are also older adults themselves," Buckley said.

Miller said that Senior Services Associates is nonpartisan and typically stays out of politics, but finds this issue nonpartisan. The organizations will continue to organize advocacy efforts in the future, and updates will be posted on the organization’s Facebook page, Senior Services Associates Marketing and Fund Development Director Adele Larsen said.

“But, by God, I need to stand up for the seniors I see every day and I will get involved at this point because I need to stand up for you,” Miller said. “I don’t know where this will lead, but we are the biggest generation that there is, and we will be the greatest if we can stand up with each other.”