DoorDash Applauds Bipartisan Senate Introduction of the Delivering for Rural Seniors Act

Across America, millions of older adults are making impossible choices - between groceries and gas, prescriptions and dinner. For too many seniors living far from grocery stores or without reliable transportation, that unfortunately means not knowing where their next meal is coming from.

That's why DoorDash strongly supports the bipartisan introduction of the Delivering for Rural Seniors Act in the United States Senate by Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Jon Husted (R-OH). This commonsense legislation, introduced in the House last year, would help ensure that low-income seniors can get home delivery of groceries through pilot programs in their state as part of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). That means bringing food directly to their doors when getting to a store or local food pantry simply isn't an option.

Hunger among seniors is a growing and urgent problem. Nearly 7 million seniors - one in eleven Americans over 60 years old - in the United States have trouble putting food on the table, and rates are even higher in rural areas, where distances are longer, transportation options are more limited, and grocery stores are disappearing altogether.

For many seniors, the challenge isn't just affording food; it's accessing it. More than 700,000 low-income seniors are eligible for "senior food boxes" through CSFP, but too many do not participate simply because it is too difficult to get to the nearest food bank or pantry that can be miles away or towns over.

The Delivering for Rural Seniors Act helps close that gap. By expanding pilot programs covered under CSFP, the bill meets seniors where they are.

"At its core, this bill is about keeping people fed," said Max Rettig, Vice President of Global Public Policy at DoorDash. "No senior should go hungry because they live too far from a grocery store or can no longer drive. The Delivering for Rural Seniors Act recognizes the reality facing millions of older Americans, and we applaud Senators Kelly and Husted for taking a meaningful step toward making sure food can reach them when they need it most."

DoorDash has seen firsthand how delivery can be a lifeline for seniors and people with disabilities. Through Project DASH, we've helped bring over 8 million deliveries of an estimated 135 million meals to households that would otherwise be left behind. We have delivered thousands of CSFP food boxes each month to homebound seniors alongside our partners, from the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina to Hunger Task Force in Wisconsin and St. Mary's Food Bank in Arizona.

At DoorDash, we believe fighting hunger shouldn't depend on your ZIP code, your age, or your ability to drive. Hunger does not stop whether you live in red counties or blue counties. We're grateful to the bipartisan leaders in the Senate for recognizing this challenge and taking action, and we urge Congress to move quickly to pass the Delivering for Rural Seniors Act.