Like many seniors, Shirley is on a fixed income. Her money is tightly budgeted for rent, food and other necessities like bus money.

To make her money stretch as far as it can, she takes advantage of several programs offered through Emergency Foodshelf Network (EFN), a United Way food relief partner.

One EFN program, Fare for All, allows people to purchase food at discounted prices in packages like the frozen meat package, which contains four meat items like chicken, hamburger, hot dogs, etc., for $12—a great deal that can last her up to a month.

Vegetable packages are also available and are full of items like onions, potatoes, carrots, three apples or oranges, green peppers, cabbage or whatever's in-season and available plus two dried food items like pasta or beans—all for $10. Shirley comparatively priced the same items at a grocery store and, to her surprise, the total was almost $75. As she put it, Fare for All is "a very good program for someone who's on a very limited budget."

Fare for All is available to anyone, at any income level. The only thing you’re asked in return is to volunteer in the community at least two hours a month.

Once a month, Fare for All brings food to Shirley's senior housing complex for the residents to purchase. She volunteers by setting up the building's community room and helping people buy groceries on-site. An advocate of making one's money last, she gets the word about EFN programs out to her neighbors: "We’re trying to let more people know we're here."

One goal of United Way's Agenda for Lasting Change is reducing hunger 20 percent by 2009 and we’re making significant progress. In 2007, we tripled the goal we set:  through food banks and other initiatives with our partners, we collected 4.8 million additional pounds of food for the emergency food shelf program.

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