Doris loves the theater and a good card game with friends. She directs seniors at the Charlotte Performing Arts Center. You can also find her playing Pinochle in the Eaton Area Senior Center.

She doesn't have a pension or a large nest egg in the bank and depends on Social Security to pay her bills including the rent and various health care expenses like co-pays, deductibles, and over the counter medications. She received a nice increase in her Social Security benefit this year but her Medicare cost increases ate it all up.

She says her Food Assistance benefits come in handy at the end of each month. That's when her Social Security income runs out and she sometimes has trouble making ends meet.

Doris knows a thing or two about healthy nutrition. When she lived in California with her husband and two children she worked in hospital food service. One of her patients was Mother Theresa.

Doris returned to Michigan to be near her daughter and granddaughter and considers her family the greatest accomplishment of her life. Her granddaughter told her about MiCAFE and urged her to apply. And now Doris is telling others to apply.

When asked what she tells other seniors about MiCAFE, her approach is simple. "I sit down and talk to them. I tell them if they need help, there is a place to go and get it." It's critical for people to have enough to eat to be in good health.

She admits that it's a big help to apply for a Michigan Bridge Card at the local senior center and Doris likes the fact that the Food Assistance Program doesn't just help seniors. It also helps farmers who, like her grandfather, put in a hard day’s effort to feed the world. The simple fact is that when people have more money to buy food, the whole economy benefits.

"I really do want to thank MiCAFE for my Bridge Card. This has helped this year, so I can keep up with my husband's and my medical bills." -MiCAFE Client