Meals on Wheels

To grow old is inevitable. To grow old without access to tasty, nutritious meals, however, is just wrong. Meals on Wheels thinks so, and so does Wells Architecture. Once a month, Phil, or one of the other employees in the office, volunteers with Meals on Wheels to deliver nutritious meals to homebound seniors. On top of the meal, the senior also gets some much-needed human connection and a quick safety check.

            Meals on Wheels is “a nationwide network of community-based, non-profit programs dedicated to providing seniors in their communities with the support that enables them to remain living in their own homes, where they want to be.” The statistics that Meals on Wheels America provides on its website are incredible. Ranging from “daily home-delivered meals help keep 8 out of 10 recipients who have previously fallen from falling again” to “the senior population is projected to double by 2050.” This organization works to ensure that these people, ranging from age 60 to 100+, don’t get left behind and can remain as self-sufficient as possible.

            The best part of the program is that the 5,000 local community-based programs in America provide meals to over 2.4 million seniors without any cost to them. As a partnership between the federal government and the public, Meals on Wheels is partially funded by the Older Americans Act while local communities and private resources cover the rest of the cost. With over 2 million volunteers nationwide, it sounds like Meals on Wheels should be thriving.

            The bad news is that the elder population is growing, which means that there’s also a growing need for more volunteers and more funding. To receive Meals on Wheels deliveries, clients who are threatened with hunger and social isolation reach out to their local division and hopefully start getting meals right away. Some communities don’t have enough resources to meet the need and are given no choice but to put some seniors on waiting lists. The hope is that the resources and volunteers will come and the program can do its best to help.

            Wells Architecture delivers monthly to seniors in the Park Ridge and Hillsdale area, helping to make sure that local seniors have the food and social interactions that they need to stay healthy.