North Carolina’s governor celebrates huge milestone for Meals on Wheels

Gov. Josh Stein was on hand Monday as Meals on Wheels delivered its eight millionth meal in Forsyth County. The recipient was Ben Briggs, a 105-year-old retired science teacher who relies on the nonprofit to deliver meals to his home.

In North Carolina 13.9% of seniors, more than 341,000 older adults, face food insecurity.

Stein said rising grocery prices leave too many North Carolinians like Briggs wondering where their next meal may come from.

“Delivering eight million meals is an incredible milestone,” said Stein in a statement. “I am grateful to the Meals on Wheels and Senior Services team and every volunteer who connects people to the food they need.“

The Stein administration has focused on hunger-related issues for much of the past year with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which cut food benefits and instituted work requirements to qualify for them.

Last month, the governor sent a letter to congressional leaders and the North Carolina congressional delegation, urging them to repeal the work requirements because they could put 90,000 North Carolinians covered by SNAP at risk of losing that benefit.

Statewide, more than 1.2 million North Carolinians rely on SNAP to purchase groceries.

Starting next October, states will also be required to pay a portion of the SNAP benefit costs based on their payment error rate.

“We know that in North Carolina, the costs of H.R. 1 implementation will fall heavily on already-strained county budgets, and counties may need to cut other services to make up the shortfall,” Stein wrote in the Oct. 13 letter.

In July, the comprehensive state budget Stein signed included more than $9 million to support food banks and North Carolina farmers.

Hunger crisis widens in North Carolina as food banks face more demand, federal cuts

Stein also used Monday’s meal delivery to announce that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will relaunch a streamlined Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) program in early 2027. The program will deliver weekly healthy food boxes to high-need NC Medicaid Managed Care recipients across three pilot regions through June 30, 2027.

The initial pilot program was suspended in July 2025 because of a lack of additional funding by the North Carolina General Assembly, where some Republican leaders were skeptical about the program’s impact. However, a study this year by the Sheps Center at the University of North Carolina found the pilot program resulted in fewer emergency department visits and reduced healthcare costs by an average of $164 per month for N.C. Medicaid beneficiaries.

“By focusing on food insecurity, we are keeping our highest-risk neighbors healthy at home and proving that proactive nutrition is one of the most effective tools we have to keep people out of the hospital,” said NCDHHS Secretary Dev Sangvai in a statement.