Many seniors want politicians to address their concerns during elections

It’s lunchtime at the Wimauma Senior Center and the place is packed.

Karaoke is heating up and Dolly Andino is just warming up.

Many smiles are shared here. But they’re not just here for karaoke and camaraderie. Andino says that if it weren’t for the free meals offered by the center, many of them would go hungry.

“Oh, it’s very important because it relieves you of having to take money from the little income you get every month and have to spend on extra food,” she said.

They come here every day for a free lunch, courtesy of Hillsborough County. Twice a week they receive lunch boxes to take home.

For Andino, singing comes naturally. In New York, she sang with Latin bands at weekend concerts when she wasn’t hairdressing.

Andino survives on her Social Security check and her late husband’s military pension. But that doesn’t go very far. Since her husband died, she had to move into a room in her friend’s house in Ruskin.

“Sometimes I can’t even pay some of the bills because, you know, I have to pay the rent, the car, the insurance, the phone,” she said, “and everything keeps going up, but the income won’t budge.”

He’s been closely participating in this presidential campaign, but he hasn’t heard anything about helping seniors.

“I would like to hear politicians say that they will give seniors the opportunity to have more income so that they can survive by paying rent and buying food or, you know, through Medicare, they will give seniors more money to spend on food,” she said.

Her roommate has been in the same boat since she was widowed five years ago.

Maggie Diaz Gomez is 66 years old. He also receives Social Security and New York State Pension. However, this is not enough.

“I had a big, well, I still have it, four-bedroom house that sat empty for five years, just me, and for the last year I had to rent because it was financially difficult to keep up with the bills,” Gomez said.

“I don’t travel much. I don’t socialize outside like, you know, I go to other people’s houses, I don’t go to restaurants like I used to and I plan everything. That’s why I enjoy the little things in life more now than ever before. “I like to just go to the beach or the pool, you know, hang out with my friends at home or at their houses instead of, you know, going to restaurants and eating and drinking,” she said.

Gomez also doesn’t think politicians address the issues seniors face every day: “I just don’t believe anything they say anymore.”

Solimar Garcia is the caretaker of the senior center.

He says they serve 154 people and at least 100 of them need meals to avoid going hungry. One of them can barely afford an apartment.

“One of our clients doesn’t have enough money to pay for her apartment. So she had to rent a small room,” Garcia said.

These people have worked all their lives to be on the brink of inflation and rising prices. But Garcia says he has no shame, no second thoughts or swallowing his pride in coming here.

About 20 miles from Ruskin, near Tampa’s 22nd Street Causeway, Feeding Tampa Bay hosts a special event for seniors who can’t make ends meet.

Laura Messina eats chicken marsala and potato fingers in a noisy, crowded room.

“Before the pandemic, I would go to the grocery store and I could spend $40 at Save a Lot and walk out of there with a lot of money. No, no,” she said. “Now I spend $40 and have six or seven things in my cart.”

Messina says she watched the presidential debate and didn’t hear much content, but she’s leaning toward Donald Trump.

“I really don’t like Trump, to be honest. But you know what they say: choose the one who’s less evil, you know, sometimes?” Messina said.

She called Kamala Harris “smart” and doesn’t like her either.

The thing is, it scares me because none of them want to help us. None of them. Neither Republicans nor Democrats, they are not dealing with the real recession, whatever you want to call it, because we are in a bad situation.

Feeding Tampa Bay recently moved to a larger building just off the 22nd Street Causeway near the Port of Tampa. This building is a place where people can eat for the first time and they have started their SWELL – a wellness program for seniors.

Rachelle Thompson runs the nonprofit group’s senior nutrition program. He lists the reasons why approximately 80% of those receiving direct support from their pantries are seniors.

“Extreme need, sometimes separation from the community, confinement at home, lack of social support networks, limited income, fixed income – these factors compounded on top of each other, combined with inflation or disasters, can make it really difficult for them to make ends meet “- he added. she said.

Thompson hears stories “every day” about people just trying to survive.

“As inflation rises, the fixed income support our seniors rely on does not change. So their incomes stay the same, benefits like SNAP assistance or food stamps and other sources of income that our seniors rely on don’t decrease,” she said, “but inflation continues to rise, especially in this area, and seniors could really become displaced. “

Dolly Andino says Kamala Harris’ poses are music to her ears.

“I must tell you that Kamala did great during the debate,” Andino said. “She has the best interest of the American person at heart, and I’m sad to say that I’m not impressed at all by Donald Trump.”

But when it comes to the economy, it continues to impress more people in most polls.