Low-income Pennsylvania seniors struggle to feed their pets


For millions of American seniors, the retirement years aren’t spent relaxing on the beach and traveling the world; instead, it’s spent scraping by and struggling to buy food, pay the rent and utility bills. But many of these seniors aren’t facing their problems alone.

As reported in The Herald, a Pennsylvania newspaper, a team of volunteers in the state’s York County have been helping low-income seniors in a very important, albeit indirect way: feeding their pets. These seniors, who don’t enjoy the full meals available at Pennsylvania assisted living communities, often have to ration their food.

The newspaper reports that volunteers with the local Area Agency on Aging, when delivering food for the area’s poor seniors, noticed some recipients shared their food with pets, clearly lacking appropriate pet food. That meant not only did their pets not receive enough food, but that the seniors didn’t either.

Lyn Garrison with the Area Agency on Aging told the newspaper that feeding the seniors’ pets are important so that these vulnerable people can have companions who live with them in health for as long as possible.

“It’s important to their well-being and their health. That’s really their family and their life,” she said.

If you would like to help low-income seniors in Pennsylvania provide food for their pets, call reporter Anna Douglas of The Herald at 803-329-4068.