Agency on Aging Rejects Grand Jury Report on Meal Program

SANTA ANA —  An Orange County Grand Jury report that criticized a county agency on how it disburses funds for a senior citizens’ meals program was flawed because it used inaccurate data, officials say.

The Area Agency on Aging, which administers the meals program, on Wednesday released an unusually detailed response to a grand jury report, taking issue with practically all of the panel’s critical findings.

The grand jury report questioned whether West and South County senior citizens were receiving their fair share of the $3.3 million the county allocates annually for elderly meals.

The report stated that one of three organizations providing the meals, Anaheim-based Feedback Foundation, received more than 60% of the county’s nutrition funds, even though it served less that 40% of the overall senior citizen population in the county.

The report suggested that the two other organizations, which serve South and West County, weren’t receiving enough funding.

The county’s response, however, contends that the grand jury’s numbers are wrong and that funding is being distributed in a balanced way.

According to the county, Feedback serves 55% of the county’s senior citizens and receives about 60% of total meals funding. The organization providing meals in West County received 19% of nutritional funding and covered 18% of all seniors. The South County organization received 20% of nutritional funding and served an area containing 27% of the county’s senior citizens.

Peggy Weatherspoon, director of the Area Agency on Aging, said the county is required by law to distribute funding based not only on population but on race and economic need. Because Feedback serves low-income portions of Anaheim and Santa Ana, it receives more funding under the formula, she said.

The grand jury report suggested that the county either restructure the current nutritional service boundaries to provide “improved . . . and more cost-effective service,” or scrap the zones all together, allowing individual cities to arrange for their own services.

But Weatherspoon and other officials said they see no reason to change the system, noting that the California Department of Aging found Orange County to have the most cost-effective senior meals program in the state.