New grants aimed at fighting loneliness and hunger among P.E.I. seniors

A new provincial pilot program is aiming to combat both food insecurity and isolation among Prince Edward Island seniors.

The P.E.I. government is offering one-time grants up to $5,000 for groups to host free community meals for seniors this spring.

The grants are intended to serve a dual purpose, said Shaun MacNeill, the provincial director of strategy, policy and seniors.

"One is to address food insecurity among seniors and provide them with access to meals in a sort of group environment of communal support," said MacNeill."But also and related to that, it's intended to help address social isolation."

Numbers from 2021 show that at least 6,000 seniors on P.E.I. were living below the poverty line at that time before two years of steep increases in the cost of living set in.

"Everybody's aware that food insecurity is an issue in Prince Edward Island," said MacNeill."It's an ongoing challenge and one that hopefully this program will help address."

The new grant is meant to offset food costs to create new community meal programs, or increase the capacity of existing ones.

The funding is open to registered charities and incorporated organizations, but community groups can apply if they partner with a charity or business.

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The application deadline is March 22, and groups need to host the meal or meals sometime this spring.

Some groups have already applied for the funding, said MacNeill, and there is no cap on how many groups the province can support.

"We want to make sure that we're trying to turn those applications around as quickly as possible," he said."We're looking for reasons to say yes to an application, not to say no."

MacNeill said he hopes they'll be able to fund programs that also offer a delivery option.

"If someone isn't able to leave their home for whatever reason, this would encourage those organizations to reach out proactively to them to deliver a meal, and thus provide another kind of point of social contact," he said.

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If there is enough interest, he said the goal is to continue the pilot program in the future.

"If people are coming together, if people are having improved access to meals and we see some of those issues of isolation or loneliness being addressed then I think we'd love to explore the opportunity to continue," MacNeill said.