Facing deficit, Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee receives emergency funding from county

Facing a deficit, Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee will receive some help from Manatee County government.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Manatee County Commission approved giving the nonprofit $200,000 in emergency funding out of the county’s reserves to assist. In 2016, the nonprofit had a deficit in excess of $372,961, according to county documents.

“This is really to fund a deficit in the program and the need that Meals on Wheels has asked in order to be able to continue to service clients,” said Cheri Coryea, the county’s neighborhood services director.

The demand for meals is continuing to increase as people are outliving their retirement savings, Commissioner Charles Smith said.

“This is a situation where they may not survive if we don’t step in,” he said.

Earlier this year, Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee, which was established in 1972, reached its client capacity and announced it was unable to add new clients due to financial constraints.

Between 2012 and 2016, the nonprofit has seen nearly a 38 percent increase in client meal count while client contributions toward the cost of the service decreased, according to a letter sent to Coryea from Maribeth Phillips, the nonprofit’s CEO, in February.

“We are aggressively reviewing all budget items for the meal program in an attempt to save dollars and help defray the cost of the program, and are considering the elimination of several staff positions within this program,” Phillips said in the letter. “Several unrelated programs are under consideration for total elimination in an effort to reduce the impact of the meals program deficits on other areas of our organization.”

The restructuring is already taking place, Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said Tuesday.

“They are changing the way they are doing business,” she said.

Commission Chairwoman Betsy Benac said she was “a bit concerned about an organizational shortfall.”

“We have many, many nonprofits in this community that do wonderful things,” she said. “I am a bit concerned about setting a precedent.”

The emergency funding of $200,000 is “not going to fix their problem,” Baugh said.

“They would not be coming to us if they had an alternative,” she said. “They are having major problems. Some may be because Renaissance on 9th. ... This community is going to have to come forward and help them as they have before. They have been caught in this bind and they need our help.”

This story was originally published June 6, 2017 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Facing deficit, Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee receives emergency funding from county."