It's lunchtime at the Wimauma Senior Center, and the place is packed.
The karaoke is getting cranked up, and Dolly Andino is just getting warmed up.
There's a lot of smiles being passed around here. But they're not here just for the karaoke and the camaraderie. Andino says without the free meals from the center, a lot of them would go hungry.
“Oh, it's very important, because it takes away the burden out of having to take money out of the little income you get on a monthly basis to have to spend on extra food,” she said.
They come here every day for a free lunch, courtesy of Hillsborough County. And they get breakfast boxes to take home twice a week.
For Andino, singing comes naturally. She used to sing with Latin bands back in New York, a weekend gig when she wasn't doing hairdressing.
Andino is living off her Social Security check and her late husband's Army pension. But that doesn't go very far. Since her husband died, she's had to move into a room in her friend's home in Ruskin.
“I would like to hear the politicians say that they are going to give the seniors the ability to have more income so that they can survive."Dolly Andino
“Sometimes I'm not even able to pay certain bills, because, you know, I have to pay the rent and my car, my insurance, my phone,” she said, “and everything just keeps going up, but the income doesn't budge.”
She's been paying attention in this presidential campaign, but doesn't hear anything about helping out seniors.
“I would like to hear the politicians say that they are going to give the seniors the ability to have more income so that they can survive, you know, paying rent and buying food and or, you know, through Medicare give the seniors more money so that they can spend on food,” she said.
Her roomie is in the same boat after being widowed five years ago.
Maggie Diaz Gomez is 66. She also gets Social Security and has a pension from New York state. Still, that's not enough.
“I had a big, well I still have it, a four-bedroom house, which was empty for five years, only me, and in the last year or so, I've had to rent out because it's been difficult financially to just to stay keep up with the bills,” Gomez said.
“I'm not traveling as much. I'm not socializing outside like, you know, going to different, I'm not going to restaurants like I used to and I plan everything. So I'm enjoying the little things in life more so now than ever before. I enjoy just going to the beach or the pool, you know, hanging out with friends in the house or their homes, as opposed to, you know, going out to a restaurant and eating and drinking,” she said.
Gomez also doesn't think the politicians are addressing any of the concerns that seniors like her face every day: “I just don't believe anything they're saying anymore.”
Solimar Garcia is the supervisor of the senior center.
She says they serve 154 people, and at least 100 of them need the meals to avoid going hungry. One of them can barely afford a place to live.
“One of the clients, she doesn't have enough money to pay where to live. So she had to rent a little room," Garcia said.
These people have worked their whole lives, only to find themselves on the short end of inflation and rising prices. But Garcia says there no shame or second thoughts or swallowing their pride in coming here.
About 20 miles from Ruskin, near the 22nd Street Causeway in Tampa, Feeding Tampa Bay is having a special event for seniors who can’t make ends meet.
Laura Messina is chowing down on chicken Marsala and fingerling potatoes in a noisy, packed hall.
“I used to go to the grocery store before COVID and I could spend $40 at Save a Lot and come out of there with like a lot. No, no,” she said. “Now I go spend $40 and I have like, six or seven things in my buggy.”
"The thing is, it scares me because none of them are going to help us. None of them. Not the Republicans, not the Democrats, they're not addressing the true recession, whatever you wanna call it, because we're in a bad situation.”Laura Messina on what she's not hearing this election season.
Messina says she watched the presidential debate, and didn’t hear a lot of substance but she’s leaning toward Donald Trump.
“I really don't like Trump, to tell you the truth. But you know how they say, pick the one that's less evil, you know, sometimes?,” Messina said.
She called Kamala Harris "wishy-washy" and doesn't like her, either.
“The thing is, it scares me because none of them are going to help us. None of them. Not the Republicans, not the Democrats, they're not addressing the true recession, whatever you wanna call it, because we're in a bad situation.”
Feeding Tampa Bay recently move to a larger building just off the 22nd Street Causeway, near Tampa's port. This building has a place where people for the first time can eat in, and they started their SWELL — or senior wellness program.
Rachelle Thompson runs the senior feeding program for the nonprofit group. She ticks off the reasons that about 80% of the people who get direct support from their food pantries are seniors.
“Highest need, segregated sometimes from the community stuck at home, lack of social support networks, limited income, fixed income, those things compounded together in addition to inflation or disasters can make it really difficult for them to continue to make ends meet,” she said.
Thompson hears stories "every day" of people who are having trouble just trying to survive.
“As inflation increases, the fixed income supports that our seniors rely on is not changing. So their income is staying the same, benefits like SNAP assistance or food stamps and other income sources that our seniors rely on are not budging,” she said, “but inflation continues to drive up, especially in this area and seniors can get really displaced.”
Back at the Wimauma Senior Center, Dolly Andino says Kamala Harris' positions are music to her ears.
“I have to tell you that Kamala did a terrific job in the debate,” Andino said. “She has the American's best interest at heart, and I'm sorry to say Donald Trump does not impress me at all.”
But when it comes to the economy, he’s still impressing more people in most polls.
