Evaluation of a Commodity Supplemental Food Program among the Aged Poor in Detroit

This article reports on the evaluation of a demonstration program in which elderly residents of the Detroit area were provided foods through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. Organized in a short period of time, the evaluation of this demonstration program had to take into account the realities of program needs, and lack of funding for the evaluation. Elderly participants in the Focus:Hope Food for Seniors *Revision of a Paper Delivered at the Second Annual Meeting of The Association for the Study of Food and Society, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June, 1987. Partial funding for data analysis was provided by Focus:Hope, and by a Basic Sciences Research Grant from the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University. The authors acknowledge this support with thanks. At Focus:Hope, Edna Jackson was overall director of Food Programs. Christine Reimann directed the Food for Seniors Program. Charles Grenville was Director of Resources. Cliff Stallings and Linda Hanks were in charge of the data processing, including creation of the initial data tape. Many interviewers volunteered their time for the evaluation study. Father William Cunningham, Director, Eleanor Josaitis, Associate Director, and the staff of Focus:Hope provided total support for the evaluation. The project could not have gone forward without their help.