This post is part of a series chronicling news coverage of rising gas prices in the United States. See more here.
Missouri's KFVS 12 reports gas prices are threatening a meal delivery service for seniors in need
Program administrator tells KFVS: “It’s really put a hurt on us, you know, trying to deliver those meals daily. We just can’t do that anymore.”
Published
Video file
Citation
From an April 30, 2026, video shared to the website of KFVS 12
JEFF CUNNINGHAM (ANCHOR): Prices at the pump continue to go up. According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of gas ticked up another seven cents today, up to $4.30 a gallon on average, the highest gas prices in the US that we've seen in some four years, and the rising prices at the pump are impacting a meal delivery service that many Southeast Missouri seniors rely on. Ellie Mueller is live in the studio with more.
ELLIE MUELLER (MULTI-MEDIA JOURNALIST): Jeff, the Malden Nutrition Center has run a meal delivery program for seniors for years, but the administrator tells me surging gas prices are now threatening the program's survival.
PAM WHITE (MALDEN NUTRITION CENTER): The last at least two months, it's been really rough.
MUELLER: Pam White runs the Malden Nutrition Center in Dunklin County, and she says the center delivers meals to dozens of seniors in Malden and Clarkton.
WHITE: I was only having to fill up once a month, and it was getting me through everything, and now I'm going to the station at least twice a month.
MUELLER: But with gas prices up more than 40% since the start of the Iran conflict, White says the center has reduced deliveries to Malden to once a week, and seniors in Clarkton only get the meals twice a month.
WHITE: It's really put a hurt on us, you know, trying to deliver those meals, daily. We just can't do that anymore.
MUELLER: She says many of the seniors rely on the service.
WHITE: Well, some of them don't even have food in their house. I've had them call and tell me that they're hungry. And they don't have the food.
MUELLER: Without the meal deliveries, White says the seniors lose more than food.
WHITE: These people, if they don't get this meal, they don't have a wellness check. It's absolutely a needed program in this area.
MUELLER: White says the center is looking for volunteers and accepting donations to help keep the program running.