Pacific Grove, Calif. – March 15, 2022 – Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula (MOWMP) has spent the last half century providing nutritious meals, vital socialization, and other critical programs serving local ambulatory and homebound seniors, disabled adults, and veterans.
“This year, MOWMP is working to promote the campaign to celebrate 50 years of success and garner the support needed to ensure these critical programs can continue to address food insecurity and malnutrition, combat social isolation, enable independence, and improve health for years to come,” says Winge.
According to McCumber, the majority of seniors served by Meals on Wheels San Francisco are “disproportionately poor and disproportionately isolated.” Up to 80 percent of MOWSF clients are living at or below the federal poverty line, which equates to approximately $1,000 a month. As a result, many MOWMP clients live alone and are socially isolated.
This makes the work of MOWMP all the more important. “We are truly a safety net program,” says Winge. Without the daily meals and socialization provided by the staff and volunteers who deliver them, far too many aging residents on the Peninsula would go hungry and find themselves completely cut off from the rest of the community.
Over the last 50 years, Meals on Wheels San Francisco has made impressive strides to scale their work to continue serving the City’s ever growing senior population. In 2007, MOWSF delivered 523,000 meals. Today, MOWSF delivers over 2 million meals each year. And that, said McCumber, is the “growth we’ve had to achieve just to meet the need that comes to our door.”
To address systemic issues facing the City, we need a collaborative response. In addition to the organization’s core services, MOWSF also focuses on finding ways to compliment larger City efforts to care for vulnerable populations, including providing meals to individuals staying at navigation centers. We as a City are going to pay for homebound seniors one way or another, pointed out McCumber. MOWSF meals and services allow the City to keep its senior population housed and with support rather than sending them to very expensive care.
To learn more about ways to support the next 50 years of service for the Peninsula’s homebound population, click here.
