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Meals on Wheels' Emergency Meal Program provides hundreds of seniors with meals

Posted at 4:51 PM, Dec 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-16 16:51:59-05

Meals on Wheels is known for their many programs to help homebound seniors in need. One of the programs provides two weeks worth of meals within 24 hours, to older adults who find themselves stranded with no food and no way to get any.

“They really they saved me and I’m never going back to the hospital again,” said Kay Peters, Meals on Wheels client.

93-year-old Kay Peters says Meals on Wheels saved her life.

“I was sick constantly. I was living on ice cream and cokes and hamburgers,” said Kay.

Before receiving her specially tailored meals, she was eating anything she could easily get.

“When I was in the hospital, [I had these terrible pains], like knives cutting in the lower part of my stomach. They said if I had to come back again I’d have to get surgery and that scared me,” said Kay.

For seniors like Kay, the emergency meal plan is critical.

A lot of seniors who receive these meals are usually coming out of the hospital or a rehabilitation center, without food to come home to.

“The Emergency Meal Program started about seven years ago when we realized that we had a waiting list for our federally funded home delivered meal program and some people needed meals right away,” Mark Adler, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels South Florida.

This year, the nonprofit has seen an increase in demand. With funding provided by the Jim Moran Foundation, they’ve been able to provide triple the amount of meals.

“We’re always pretty much at capacity with this program but we’ve served over 350 clients with these emergency meals,” said Mark.

Kays says the meals are great, but the service and amount of care she has received from the nonprofit, is priceless.

“They sat and talked to me with two hours, by the time they explained things to me, I never had a pain again,” said Kay.

Meals on Wheels South Florida, which provides over one million meals to homebound seniors every year, has seen an immense increase in need of food. But with the CARES Act funding set to expire by the end of the year, they’re worried and pleading for your help.

If you’d like to contribute to the nonprofit’s mission, you can find more information here.