By Mike Hazlip–
The statewide Great Plates Delivered program that provides free meals to seniors and revenue to restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic has once again been extended.
The program will now run through Sept. 9, according to an email announcement by the city on Friday. The initiative has provided over 31,000 meals to 170 participants in Citrus Heights, resulting in $643,087 in revenue to local restaurants, the announcement said.
According to the city’s website the program is no longer accepting applications to receive meals, but officials are still looking for local restaurants to participate by providing meals.
Although the program has been largely successful in providing meals to seniors and at-risk individuals while keeping restaurant employees working, some news outlets have reported problems with seniors who haven’t received the amount of meals, or the quality they were promised.
A senior living in Southern California told CBS 13 she was expecting 21 meals each week, based on the governor’s repeated statements at televised press conferences. Gov. Newsom has said there would be no cap to the number of meals eligible seniors could receive, but the recipient interviewed by CBS said her meals have been capped at two meals five days each week.
The Great Plates Delivered program uses state and federal emergency funds to pay for up to three meals to be delivered to qualifying seniors and certain other at-risk individuals each day. The meals must be low sodium, and include a fresh fruit or vegetable, according to state guidelines.
FEMA is providing 75% of the funds, with CalOES providing 18.75%. The remaining 6.25% is matched by local funds.
