USA: Man needs help to expand mission to feed hungry senior citizens

. NORFOLK, Virginia (WAVY.com), September 4, 2008: By Katie Collett It's a heart breaking statistic. One out of every nine senior citizens is going hungry across America. Now, a local organization is putting a stop to the growing number of empty stomachs right here in Hampton Roads, but it wants WAVY.com readers to help them continue their mission. The organization is called the Golden Age Food For Life Ministry. Kenneth Basnight contacted WAVY.com for help, saying his organization has found so many hungry seniors throughout Hampton Roads, they don't have enough money, food and volunteers to help them all. That's where YOU come in. "Senior citizens have to eat," says Basnight. One year ago, he took food to an elderly couple in need. It was then that he was faced with a startling reality. "I had no idea that the situation was that they got $5 and $10 a month food stamps, some of them get nothing, and they have no way of getting food. They have to choose between paying for their medicine and eating," says Basnight. From that moment, the Golden Age Food For Life Ministry was formed in Norfolk. Every Thursday, volunteers gather donated food and prepare their deliveries. "We have a total of about 33 people and sometimes we do it in one day or we break it up in two days sometimes." WAVY.com was there as the Food For Life truck made it's first stop to 91 year-old David Dixon. "I can't get to the store so good. Another thing is I ain't got enough money," says Dixon. As Dixon guided WAVY.com to his kitchen, he revealed what his $10 a month in food stamps gets him. "I ain't got nothing that'll amount to anything," says Dixon as he opened his refrigerator. Inside his refrigerator stood a bottle of ketchup and a bottle of mustard. Nothing else was inside. In his freezer were two frozen dinners and nothing more. Basnight tells WAVY.com that's unacceptable. "Imagine the thousands of senior citizens in Hampton Roads that we won't see today with a refrigerator like that." Like all Food For Life seniors, Dixon's name will be entered into a computer. Every week, he'll get a call to find out if he needs food. "I brought you a lot of fruits and vegetables, and I brought you some eggs and a couple other microwaveable things," says Basnight to Dixon. "That'll last me a long time, this food will," says Dixon as he looks at the food piling up on his counter. As this need for food continues to grow, Food For Life Needs you. "We need funding, we need finances, we need more storage, and a larger building. We need freezers, we need vehicles, and preferably one refrigerated truck," says Basnight. The organization also needs food and simple donations to help seniors live the life they deserve. "Hunger is a disease but there's a cure for it and that's Food for Life. That's us. That's what we do." Contact: Food for Life, P.O. BOX 7266, Norfolk, Va 23509, USA. E-mail Golden Age Food for Life Ministry at: goldenagefood@aol.com © Copyright 2000 - 2008 WorldNow and WAVY