What it's like to volunteer for Meals on Wheels, a group that feeds seniors and would shutter under Trump's budget

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A Meals on Wheels delivery in Lafayette, NJ

John Moore/Getty Images

A Meals on Wheels delivery in Lafayette, NJ.

I still have vivid memories of those Thursdays when I was 6 and I'd hop into the backseat of my grandparents' Buick, destined for the Salvation Army in Camden, New Jersey.

We were there to pick up hot meals packed in aluminum trays, which we'd in turn stuff into big, insulated bags and hand-deliver to hungry seniors in the area.

That was just a small fraction of the people served by Meals on Wheels, a group that currently feeds 2 million people each year. But it was obviously important to those whose doorbells we rang. Many of them lived alone, and most said we were the only people they saw that day. 

If the new federal budget proposed by President Trump gets approved, the budget cuts could threaten Meals on Wheels' very existence by draining its funding. People who rely on the program for companionship and nutrition would be forced to find other options.

Here's what Meals on Wheels - a program founded on the gift of sustenance - is all about.

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