CSCS: Council of Senior Centers and Services of NYC, Inc.

Popular Senior Meal Program In Danger Of Ending

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Advocates Of "Sixth Meal Program" Worried That NYC Budget Cuts Will Ax $1 Million-A-Year Service

NEW YORK (CBS) ― For thousands of New York City seniors it is a lifeline, bringing them the only nutritious meal they eat all weekend.

It's called the "Sixth Meal Program."

It allows the elderly to take home a meal on Friday from their senior center.

But now, the program's future is in doubt -- and that has some advocates worried.

It's Friday at the City Hall Senior Center in lower Manhattan. That means that after lunch seniors get to take a meal home to eat over the weekend.

"I need it every weekend," Michael Mui said.

Fritz Van Allst, 85, gets two meals -- one for him and one for his wife, who is blind and cannot cook.

"It's very convenient and it's a good meal," Van Allst said.

The so-called Sixth Meal Program is wildly popular at this center -- with nearly everyone taking food home.

"We make more than 250 meals for the weekend and every single meal is gone," Fay Matsuda said.

But now the program costing $1 million a year city wide may be closed due to budget cuts.

"I don't think people can imagine what it would be like if they didn't have it," xxxx said. "People just simply want it, use it, there is a demand for it. It's essential to their well being."

City officials wouldn't comment on camera but in a statement said: "This program has historically been underutilized. The elimination of the weekend meal allows the agency to maintain core services."

But Bobbie Sackman of the Council of Senior Centers said it's not right to take the food away from the 6,000 seniors who do use the program.

"I measure success by who is eating," Sackman said. "The answer is not, 'oh not everyone is using it so let's just take it all away.' That makes no sense,"

She said the meal is not a luxury; is a necessity, one that she finds it hard to believe the city will cut.

"It's one basic meal to help seniors though the weekend and I cannot imagine that the city would ever be so broke that they would have to take a meal away from a senior. That's not the place to go," Sackman said.

If the budget cut goes through, the program would end on the last Friday in June.