By Katie Rodriguez | Monterey County Weekly
Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula is outgrowing its space. In the last five years, demand for its meal services has more than doubled, pushing beyond the capacity of its existing 1,000-square-foot kitchen in Pacific Grove, which produces around 3,000-5,000 meals daily. For the first time in its 53-year history, the nonprofit has considered waiting lists.
“It just wasn’t built or designed to ever do anything like that,” says Jacob Shafer, senior director of advancement.
Now, after a year of searching for the right location, they’re making moves to expand operations to the former Monterey Peninsula Power Sports’ building at 1020 Auto Center Parkway in Seaside—over 15 times the size of the current facility and in a more accessible location to volunteers and drivers closer to Highway 1. After purchasing the building in July for $3.4 million and getting the green light from the City of Seaside, they’re beginning to work with an architect to redesign and rebuild.
“We’re definitely building this kitchen with the future in mind,” Shafer says. “We’re going to hit the ground running and produce more meals here than we do there, but we also want to grow into its capacity. So we’re planning, thinking 25, 50 years ahead.”
The organization manages several core programs: It provides home-delivered meals and wellness checks to seniors; it operates group dining sites that offer meals in a social, restaurant-like setting; and supports nonprofit partners by supplying food.
Operations during the pandemic grew dramatically as people were unable to leave their homes. Over time, MOWMP has not only retained those customers, but now has more visibility in the community, according to CEO Christine Winge.
“We had to really readapt the entire kitchen, put in new equipment, reorganize, but then also get two new freezers, add more storage, and that place wasn’t built for a ton of storage,” Winge says. She adds that they’ve been at the Pacific Grove location for the last 50 years, and that it’s storage, more than the kitchen, that needs to expand.
With permitting and construction ahead, the timeline is still unknown. But, Shafer says two years is their current, admittedly ambitious, goal.
“It’s a crazy time right now. We just keep going forward because that’s what we know to do,” Winge says. “We’re here to help. Nobody should go hungry.”
