Meals on Wheels: Private vs. Government Charity

I am sick of people acting like all charity comes from the government. Most does not. And even money spent by the government originates in private hands. Without productive people in the private sector, and without the despised for-profit system of capitalism, there would be no funds for the government to seize and redistribute. In my experience and observation, the people who scream the loudest about government funding of charity are the ones who care the least about charity. The ones who actually care about charity are involved with charity, and care little for politics and government.

As for Meals on Wheels, Jawaid Bazyar [a reader and follower of mine on Facebook] makes some compelling points:

Even if all Federal funding for Meals on Wheels is eliminated, this accounts for only 3.3% of MoW funding. Most MoW funding comes from evil corporations and evil rich people foundations, with the second-largest source of money being individual donations.

So if you think this is an important program, instead of donating $500 to some political campaign, why not give it directly to programs you say you believe in? Your $500 would go a lot further direct to MoW than being run through the government skim-off-the-top operation.

“Meals on Wheels, a program that supports the delivery of meals to seniors who cannot afford food or cannot prepare it, started in Australia and has been in the United States since 1954. The program serves 2.4 million seniors every year and does get funding from the Community Development Block Grant program.

But the situation is complicated and saying that the budget eliminates the Meals on Wheels program is factually incorrect. According to the Meals on Wheels annual IRS filing for 2015 (it isn’t a government program), approximately 3.3% of its funding comes from government sources. Most is from corporate and foundation grants, with individual contributions the second-largest source. Government grants are actually the fifth-largest source of revenue.”

Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael  Hurd” (Rehoboth Beach DE). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1

Check out Dr. Hurd’s latest Newsmax Insider column here!

Dr. Hurd’s writings read on the air by Rush Limbaugh! Read more HERE.