Meals on Wheels by ACC

Meals on Wheels by ACC dba Meals on Wheels Sacramento County (MoW) programs serve about 1,900 seniors a day through our Home-Delivered Meal Program (HDM), Congregate Nutrition Program, and Emergency Meal Program.MoW adapted its services for the health and safety of participants, staff, and volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. MoW still successfully provided meals to thousands of vulnerable seniors. Under normal circumstances, MoW serves lunch five days a week, free of charge, to approximately 325 participants ages 60 and over at its 18 Congregate Nutrition sites throughout Sacramento County. The HDM Program continued serving meals five days a week to over 1,400 frail and homebound seniors. The services we provide at MoW are critical to ensuring local seniors can remain at home rather than moving to nursing homes or assisted living facilities. With current inflation levels, seniors are having to stretch their limited funds farther than ever and a meal from MoW can make all the difference in their budget and ability to lead healthy lives.The following was accomplished during the 2023-24 fiscal year (7/1/23 - 6/30/2024):A. MoW served 4,344 unduplicated seniors and delivered over 473,206 meals to congregate and home-delivered meal participants.B. Approximately 285 volunteers contributed over 30,426 hours of volunteer service to the home-delivered meal program and the congregate meal program.C. 58.5% percent of HDM Program participants served were aged 75 or older, and 42.9% percent of Congregate and Curbside Nutrition Participants were 75 or older.D. MoW continued its Dishes service now called the Restaurant Program, partnering with local restaurants to offer meals for The Restaurant Program allows MoW more flexibility in meal selection (for example, we have Filipino-inspired meals and Korean meals at two locations) and reach underserved and under-resourced communities. E. The congregate meal program had 16 former and two new congregate nutrition sites for a total of 18 locations throughout Sacramento County.F. MoW provided culturally responsive meals to Japanese/Asian Pacific Islander (API) older adults at The Sacramento Buddhist Church to improve meal/ program satisfaction and attract younger older adults of Japanese/API ancestry. G. MoW delivered its seven millionth meal.H. MoW collected and distributed roughly 2,500 new gloves, scarves, lap blankets, and socks to homebound seniors during the holiday season. I. 83.5% of the participants that MoW enrolled in the program were classified as "nutritionally at-risk," meaning they face challenges and barriers in receiving adequate nutrition daily. J. 89.0% of participants report that the meals that they receive improve their nutrition. K. 94.7% report that MoW's meals help them more fully enjoy their daily activities and live in their own home safely.L. MoW's AniMeals program delivers pet food for more than 500 dogs and cats owned by our participants. In addition, a partnership with Whisker Warriors nonprofit brings pet food donations regularly.