Poverty among R.I.’s senior citizens is a large and growing concern

Last month, a group of seniors at Temple Sinai’s Senior Kosher Cafe, in Cranston, shared their experiences and perspectives in a roundtable conversation about economic issues here in Rhode Island. 

One woman, age 87, described a particularly difficult time when her rent, $865, wasn’t much less than her heating bill, which had spiked to $637 for one month. The combined sum was simply unmanageable on her retirement income, she said. Fortunately, she was able to work out an arrangement with the energy company that allowed her to pay down her bill slowly, over time. 

This woman is far from alone. Many Rhode Island seniors struggle with income insecurity. Other seniors who participate in the Jewish Family Service of R.I.’s Senior Kosher Cafe, in Providence and Cranston, have expressed similar worries. Another senior participant voiced the issue bluntly: “Everything’s going up. What if I live another 10 years?” 

As our state population ages, poverty among senior citizens is a growing concern. In Rhode Island, about 11.3 percent of older women and 7.3 percent of older men have incomes below the federal poverty line. Many others struggle with “living on the edge”– which led to the Jewish Alliance’s initiative of the same name. The 2013 Living on the Edge report found that one in five R.I. Jewish households, of all ages, lived in or near poverty. 

Hunger in R.I.

Food security is a tremendous concern. The Louis & Goldie Chester Full Plate Kosher Food Pantry, in Providence, served nearly 14,000 seniors in fiscal year 2014. While feeding community members of all ages, a majority of the clients receiving food from the pantry are seniors, said Susan Adler, director of the To Life Center Adult Day Services, Jewish Eldercare of Rhode Island, and the Kosher Food Pantry Program. Adler noted, “We have people who’ve come in who’ve lost their job or are just getting Social Security, or they’re working but not getting enough money.” 

The Kosher Food Pantry, at 100 Niantic Ave., is open Tuesdays and Fridays, and delivers food on Fridays.

The need, across all R.I. communities, is staggering. Each month, 60,000 Rhode Islanders go to a R.I. Community Food Bank site for food. More than 19 percent of those receiving services are age 60+, according to a January 2015 report. Some 8.8 percent are age 60-64 and 10.5 percent are age 65+. 

Those seeking assistance are more likely to be women, mirroring statewide indicators showing the gender gap in senior poverty. 

The negative impact of food insecurity on seniors is well-documented. Feeding America, a national anti-hunger organization, found that seniors with food insecurity faced an “increased risk for chronic health conditions, even when controlling for other factors such as income,” and were 40 percent more likely to report an experience of congestive heart failure, 53 percent more likely to report a heart attack, and 60 percent more likely to experience depression.

Adler said: “Poverty affects everyone. It affects every religion, every person out there.” 

Her colleagues in senior services see eye to eye on this, across religious lines. The Rev. Marie Carpenter, of Baptist Eldercare Ministries, agreed with Adler, adding, “It’s across neighborhoods.” Indeed, Rev. Carpenter noted, poverty may not always be visible, particularly for seniors: “You’ve got women living in beautiful houses who are living hand-to-mouth.” 

Hidden poverty

Rev. Carpenter works with churches where seniors, especially women, struggle with inadequate funds for basic needs even in places many do not recognize as poverty-impacted, such as Block Island. (On Block Island, property values have increased dramatically from the time some senior residents first purchased or built their homes. Some elderly women still live in these now highly-valued homes but receive only very small Social Security checks, leaving them struggling to pay their bills even in the midst of an affluent community.)

Temple Sinai’s Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser also voiced his concern: “Too many people – Jews and non-Jews – think that poverty isn’t an issue in our community. But that’s just not true. I see it in Jewish seniors who would love to come to temple services and events, but who don’t have the money to spend on transportation. I see it in the wonderful people who dine with us at our Senior Kosher Cafe, some of whom depend on a regular, low-cost meal. Poverty may be hidden in our community, but it is real.”

Rabbi Goldwasser’s concerns for the community have moved him to action. Recognizing the widespread worry about transportation costs, both in and beyond the Jewish community, he has become an active voice in the discussion. Last November, he testified at a public hearing held by the R.I. Public Transit Authority on the future of the senior/disabled no-fare bus pass. 

He noted that about a third of Temple Sinai’s members are age 65 and older. Further, he pointed out that almost 14,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities, of all faiths and backgrounds, rely on the no-fare bus passes for everyday transportation needs.

Concluding his testimony, Goldwasser stated, “As a matter of faith, today I ask you to continue the no-fare bus passes that are a lifeline for these vulnerable human beings so that we can be the kind of society that faith calls us to be.” 

Goldwasser, who serves on the steering committee of the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty and on the board of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Alliance (and, for full disclosure, of The Jewish Voice), has been a strong and consistent community advocate on senior and disabled transportation issues because he sees their direct impact. 

He is not alone in his response; many in the community are speaking up and taking action. An active member of the Kosher Senior Cafe community in its Providence location, who relies on the bus pass for his daily needs, also has been calling his elected officials to voice his ongoing concern.

Bill Flynn, director of the Senior Agenda Coalition, has long advocated for seniors living in poverty, helping to empower and organize elderly Rhode Islanders to make their voices heard at the State House and beyond. he Senior Agenda Coalition, alongside the R.I. Organizing Project, the R.I. Coalition for the Homeless, the R.I. Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty and other partners, has been advocating strongly this year to maintain the no-fare bus pass option for low-income seniors and people with disabilities. 

The collective community outcry – including the voices of many seniors, people with disabilities and faith leaders across the state – pushed the proposed $1 increase down to 50 cents.

But meetings that the R.I. Organizing Project held with seniors throughout the state to discuss the proposed fare increase have yielded heart-wrenching stories and the realization that for many seniors even a 50-cent increase is impossible on budgets already stretched desperately thin.

Organizers continue to work through legislative and executive channels to try to stop the increase before its proposed start date of July 1.

Seniors helping seniors

Nonetheless, Flynn said, “Even with the best of government programs, it’s going to take a lot more of people helping each other out.” Specifically, he cited the need for younger seniors to provide support to older seniors, and to explore cooperative support arrangements. Whether that’s through volunteer ride-sharing programs, such as the one run by Friends in Service to Humanity (FISH), or cooperative living arrangements, he emphasized that with the swelling numbers of senior Rhode islanders, both government support and community collaboration is needed. 

The aging wave of baby boomers means there will be many more seniors soon, Flynn noted. People 65 years and older comprise 14.4 percent of Rhode Island’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 figures, and that percentage is growing. rojections from Feeding America suggest that, across the United States, there will be twice as many older adults in 2040 as in 2000. 

Kathy McKeon, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, provides presentations and training on elder issues in the state. She observes that we need to start nuancing our thinking when it comes to both the meaning of senior identity and who is considered economically vulnerable. A senior who begins retirement financially secure may significantly struggle in his or her later years, she notes.

“When we talk about aging, we often lump 60 to 105 together, and someone might be doing well at 60 but lives to 95 and can’t manage anymore. … All of us are at risk because you don’t know what will happen to you over the course of 45 years,” said McKeon. 

EMILY JONES is the interfaith coordinator of the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty.