Encore Community Service CEO Jeremy Kaplan Statement Urges City Officials to Support Measure to Fund 7-Day Meal Access for Homebound Older New Yorkers

NEW YORK, NY — Encore Community Services Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Kaplan today urged members of the New York City Council and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to support a measure that would increase home-delivered meals to seven days a week and directly fund the New York City Department for the Aging (NYC Aging) and organizations on the frontlines of providing those services to homebound New Yorkers.

“For nearly 50 years, Encore has anchored Manhattan’s West Side—providing meals, housing, supportive services, older adult centers, case management, and the human connection that helps people age with dignity in the communities they helped build. We produce 15,000 to 20,000 meals a week from our commissary kitchen in St. Malachy's Church, providing nourishment for older adults throughout the West Side of Manhattan and in the Bronx. 

Every day, our hardworking team sees exactly what home-delivered meals really mean. For a homebound older adult, a meal is not just food. It is health, safety, and independence. It is a knock on the door from someone who sees them, knows them, and makes sure they are not forgotten. 

But right now, NYC Aging’s system does not fully match the reality of hunger. 

Older adults need to eat every day… not just Monday through Friday. But the current five-day model leaves weekends uncovered, forcing nonprofits to stretch limited resources to fill a basic need that should be guaranteed. It perpetuates a broken system of food insecurity that simply cannot keep pace with inflation. 

Let’s be honest about the flaw in our current premise: relying on an unstable patchwork of private charity to cover a public gap is an outdated, failing strategy. Private dollars alone cannot absorb skyrocketing grocery and fuel costs. We do not need temporary band-aids, and we do not need flawed pass-through structures that shift the responsibility. We need structural reform.

This brings me directly to Mayor Mamdani and Speaker Menin: Nonprofit Providers cannot do this work on good intentions alone. Passing Intro 280 and fully funding it with $30 million is not charity—it is a public obligation and smart policy. 

Here is what that $30 million investment achieves by requiring NYC Aging to guarantee 365-day coverage: 

  • It sets a guaranteed floor: By establishing a clear, humane baseline of one meal a day, 365 days a year, human service organizations will no longer be forced to drain privately raised dollars just to cover the weekend gap. We can finally redirect those private funds toward what charity does best: adding capacity, clearing waitlists, and providing supplemental meals for the older adults who need them most. 
  • It invests directly in the care economy: This is an investment in the City’s own economic development priorities. Fully funding seven-day home-delivered meals means investing in the care economy, adding jobs, and increasing wages for the workers who make this service possible. 
  • It secures a living wage: At Encore, if the Mayor and Council fully fund seven-day meal delivery, our plan is to direct that expanded contract revenue toward long-overdue raises for our delivery drivers and kitchen staff. This funding is the only way we can build a sustainable, living-wage model for the frontline staff who work tirelessly to keep older adults nourished and safe at home. 

I want to thank Councilmember Linda Lee for her fierce leadership, compassion, and commitment to making food security for older adults a public priority, and I urge her Council colleagues and Mayor Mamdani, to make Intro 280  a priority in this budget cycle. The City must fund home-delivered meal providers at the full rate for seven days a week and they must do it through the human services organizations that are directly contracted by NYC Aging to cover the true cost of preparing, packing, and delivering meals. 

No one should have to ration food, skip meals, or choose between nutrition and medication simply because it’s Saturday or Sunday. Fully funding this legislation increases food security for older adults and makes New York City more affordable for them. 

Older New Yorkers deserve more than a patchwork system. They deserve dignity, stability, and the confidence that food will be there every day of the year. 

Let’s pass Intro 280, fully fund it where it belongs – at the New York City Department For The Aging (NYC Aging) and human service organizations doing the work to deliver for the people who built this city. Thank you.”

About Encore Community Services: Encore Community Services empowers older adults to thrive in the communities they call home. Through nutritious meals, engaging programs, and meaningful social connections, Encore supports older New Yorkers in living independently - with dignity, purpose, and respect. Our work spans vibrant community centers where hundreds gather daily, home-delivered meals for those with the greatest need, comprehensive care planning and case management, and supportive housing initiatives. Across all services, Encore ensures that older adults remain nourished, engaged, safely housed, and deeply connected to their communities. Learn more at https://www.encorenyc.org.

 

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