Rhode Island Community Food Bank will begin delivering boxes of food to low-income seniors. That’s thanks to the expansion of a federal program for seniors in need, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.

Boxes of canned fruit and vegetables, cereal, pasta and other items will be delivered to low income elderly Rhode Islanders starting this summer. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) helped secure federal funding to bring the US Department of Agriculture nutrition program for poor seniors to Rhode Island and six other states.

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank will help identify needy recipients and deliver the monthly boxes. It will have funding to serve about 2000 seniors earning less than 130 percent of the poverty level, about $1200 dollars a month for a single person. Food bank officials say about 20 percent of the tens of thousands of people they serve every month are seniors.

Rhode Island’s division of elderly affairs will also help raise awareness about the food assistance program.