Beginning this month, the Territorial Administration On Aging Office is back to serving 3 hot meals a week for senior citizens, instead of four.
And TAOA will maintain that meal schedule up to the end of September when the current fiscal year ends.
TAOA Finance Manager, Auva’a Sam Kupa, says the reduction was based on his recommendation to the Director, Ale Tifimale Ale.
After analyzing the available funding , Kupa felt it was best to reduce the number of meals to three for just these 3 months until they receive funding for the new fiscal year.
He reasoned that it’s better to have three meals like before rather than run the risk of suspending the meals altogether if funding runs out.
Auva’a says TAOA has briefed Governor Lolo Moliga and has asked for local funding in the event they cannot carry the hot meal program through to the end of the year,
There’s also vendor payments to consider.
Auva’a says for now TAOA is up to date with payments for vendors who supply meals for the hot meal program.
A few months ago vendors complained that they had not been paid for months.
This was not due to a funding issue but rather because certain paperwork which had to be sent to the federal grantor was not processed on time due to responsible TAOA staff being absent from work.
