Good to Give: Nutritious Meals and Social Support for Seniors Sheltering in Place
When the coronavirus pandemic brought the country to a halt, Meals on Wheels America and its network of local community programs sprang into action. The organization, whose vision is to ensure seniors live nourished lives with independence and dignity, created the Meals on Wheels COVID-19 Response Fund to quickly mobilize and meet the unique, critical needs of the crisis.
Through GoodRx’s Good to Give program, we’ve donated $10,000 to the fund to support the senior communities the organization serves.
Seniors are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, so it is important to keep them safe at home, which makes providing regular meals and social support more difficult. On a national scale, the COVID-19 Response Fund has supported local programs to:
Replenish shelf-stable and frozen meals.
Cover transportation and personnel costs due to the closure of meal sites.
Support technology used to check in with isolated seniors.
Boost meal distribution efforts in the hardest-hit areas.
Share timely information on how to prevent infection while serving seniors in need.
To date, Meals on Wheels America — through its COVID-19 Response Fund — has distributed $28.7 million to 616 local organizations, enabling them to deliver 18.7 million additional meals and serve an additional 1 million seniors in need nationwide. Donations like the one from our Good to Give program are part of what made this possible.
But nutritious meals aren’t the only benefits that Meals on Wheels provides. In fact, it’s much more than just a meal. Here’s a look at its additional services:
Socialization: One in four seniors lives alone and feels lonely, isolated from their community. When volunteers deliver meals, they also offer a source of human connection by stopping to say hello and letting them know they care. Some Meals on Wheels programs also offer pet assistance, delivering pet food and supplies, vet care, and grooming.
Nutrition offerings: In addition to home meal delivery, some community programs provide nutrition counseling, application assistance for the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and meal packs after hospital stays. Local programs can also make and deliver meals specific to a senior’s medical condition.
Safety checks: Volunteers also perform safety checks in their clients’ homes, taking note of physical and mental changes. This helps them identify potential problems such as fall risks. Many local programs offer home-repair services or refer seniors to home repair providers.
Community connections: About half of local programs offer medical care coordination and transportation services.
These additional services for seniors lower healthcare costs. In fact, the number of hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and nursing home transitions dropped after seniors enrolled in a Meals on Wheels program, according to a study conducted by Brown University researchers. What’s more, Medicare reimbursements were also lowered.
With more funding, 90% of local Meals on Wheels programs could easily take on new clients.
“Each individual Meals on Wheels program represents one slice of the most powerful national network serving seniors in America,” says Ellie Hollander, president and chief executive officer of Meals Wheels America, in a study titled “More Than a Meal.”
To learn how you can help seniors in your community, visit Meals on Wheels America.
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Good to Give is our employee-driven charity program, where we support nonprofit organizations and contribute to their efforts through donations. To select groups to support throughout the year, we’re asking our employees to nominate nonprofits and causes important to them before taking a company-wide vote on recipients each quarter. Read more about the program and other recipients here.
