Meals on Wheels of RI Inc., doing business as Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island, is in its 54th year of providing food service to homebound seniors.
In 2022, the organization delivered its 20 millionth meal. That is a long way and many meals from the one-person operation that started in 1969 to serve 17 people on the East Side of Providence.
“This year [2022], we are on track to serve 2,500 older adults,” said Meghan Grady, executive director of Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island.
2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program, the federal legislation that provided funding for nutrition services for seniors and helps support programs such as Meals on Wheels.
The daily delivered meal meets one-third of a senior’s dietary requirements. The meals are prepared in a commercial kitchen operated by a third-party catering company known as Trio Community Meals. The meals are chilled for transport and delivered under strict conditions to ensure proper food service handling techniques.
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MOBILE MEAL: Meghan Grady, executive director of Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island, shows off one of the meals the organization delivers to homebound seniors.
COURTESY MEALS ON WHEELS RI INC.[/caption]
In addition to logistics, Grady said Trio provides menu development and production so that the prepared meals are ready to be delivered by local volunteer drivers.
“The guidance [Trio] provides a team of registered dietitians who develop a menu that provides the local flavor,” Grady said.
Each year, the March for Meals celebration commemorates the historic day in March of 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed into law a measure that amended the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include a national nutrition program for seniors 60 years and older. This legislation supported the rapid growth of the nationwide network of senior nutrition programs – commonly referred to as Meals on Wheels – that collectively served over 223 million meals to more than 2.4 million seniors prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Older Americans Act Nutrition Program is the only federally supported program designed to address both senior hunger and isolation,” said Ellie Hollander, CEO and president of Meals on Wheels America.
With increased demand due to the pandemic atop the rapid increase in the senior population, 8 out of 10 local Meals on Wheels programs are still serving more home-delivered meals than they were prior to the pandemic. The national organization expects the demand is here to stay.
At more and more of the thousands of daily stops, as doors opened to welcome knocks from volunteer drivers delivering meals to seniors, it became apparent that people were in need of more than just nutrition – there was a vital need for interpersonal relations, for companionship, for someone to talk to. Although the realization that what was happening was more than just a simple act of providing a meal for an older individual who lived alone dawned on Meals on Wheels providers before the pandemic, it has been magnified many times over in the past two years.
Everyone has heard stories during the pandemic of people whose only contact with the outside world was the once a day when the Meals on Wheels driver knocked on the door. The organization spotlighted some of their people who had poignant stories to tell on a recent media campaign and some have become local celebrities.
In 2022, Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island launched an Asian menu and a Latin menu, both of which have proven very popular. Additionally, Grady said the first medically tailored menu was launched this past October. There is already talk of expanding that menu in the new year.
“Dining Out With Bruce Newbury” is broadcast locally on WADK 101.1 FM and 1540 AM and on WWRI 105.5 FM and 1450 AM. The show is also broadcast on radio stations in Vermont and Indiana. Contact Bruce at bruce@brucenewbury.com.
