Meals on Wheels services across the Shannonside region are hitting significant barriers when it comes to funding.
Manager of Longford Meals on Wheels, Elaine Keogh has warned that the sporadic nature of funding provided from the HSE makes long-term planning difficult.
The Longford service, based at St Joseph's Care Centre, feeds over 150 recipients each week.
Increases in the cost of food, petrol and insurance among other factors is resulting in providers increasing the cost of the service.
Speaking to Shannonside FM news, Elaine says they like may other local meals on wheels services are massively relying on public fundraising:
"The funding for the meals on wheels service is quite sporadic so while the HSE is the main source of funding, we do not know our budget from year to year and we're unable to plan. We had to set up a gofundme page which can be found on our website, mealsonwheelslongford.ie, or our Facebook page to help support the service. We're very short of funds really and we have 4 vans on the road which are in need of replacing. They've high mileage and we've no funds to replace them".
