There are three big churches not far from the hospital. They may not have food ready for everyone, but if you ask, they will give you some.
There are even more temples around the area. Not sure about those require a ticket to enter. There is at least one temple which is free to enter. As I know, they will give food to someone like her and her children, no meat though.

As I know, chinese government already gave money to elder people without a family (spouse or a child).
My grandma's younger brother, never married, without children.
After a certain age, he was eligible to live in a government home for elderly for free (a cheap one, not a nice one though).
He lived with my grandparents until 80 year old when my grandparents are too old to take care of him.
Then he spent the rest of his life in the home.
Government gave him some small amount of money every month.
After he passed away, my mother spent the money he saved to cover part of his funeral.

Well, not sure it is expectation or some other reason.
I didn't hear any complain from my grandmother's younger brother.
He passed away around 90, that is about ten years ago. He saved n0,000 RMB
He was from jiangsu, not rich south jiangsu, not poor north jiangsu either.
He had no problem to check into a government home.
As a matter of fact, the government home checked with him several times during his 70s when he still lived with my grandparents.
Well, from this experience, I don't think government did nothing.