Alliance Meals on Wheels sees struggles ahead
Alliance YWCA completes a yoeman’s effort each day.
YWCA staff member Korena Pow and an army of 89 volunteers distribute food to about 200 seniors in the greater Alliance area as part of the Meals on Wheels program, an ongoing endeavor in the Carnation City for 52 years.
“This program really would not exist without our volunteers,” Pow, the only paid employee in the local program, told Alliance Rotary Club earlier this year. “Volunteers are the backbone of Meals on Wheels.”
The program costs about $15,000 per month, or about $180,000 a year – one-third of the YWCA’s annual budget. Title III funding through the Aging Disability Act also helps, as do contributions from churches, individuals and groups. Alliance Rotary presented Pow with a check for $7,000 for the Meals on Wheels program during her recent speaking engagement.
Funding woes ahead for program
Alliance Meals on Wheels will take a big hit in its funding in the second quarter of 2024. That’s when United Way of Greater Stark County, a longtime partner, says it will pull all funding for senior nutrition programs due to its changing priorities to focus on programs for those up to age 5.
Alliance’s Meals on Wheels program will lose about $25,599. Pow, though, says she is searching for creative ways to cut costs and raise funds through grants and other sources. Whatever costs are not funded, the YWCA acquires to make sure those seniors get their meals.
The funding cuts come at a time that the Alliance operation is expanding to include residents in Sebring and Beloit, an area that was being underserved due to lack of volunteers in Mahoning County.
“We were receiving an absurd number of phone calls from those areas looking for help because they couldn’t get service through Mahoning County,” said Pow. She added that a private donation helped pay for that operation until permanent funding could be secured.
Feeding body and soul
While Meals on Wheels each day delivers nutritious food prepared by dieticians from Aultman Alliance Community Hospital to seniors ages 60 or older and those with a documented disability – including a delivery of weekend meals on Friday – the service’s involvement with its clients goes even deeper.
Pow noted that delivery volunteers check on clients’ well-being, and get involved when they sense a problem.
“I really can’t say enough about our volunteers,” Pow said.
The program’s partners also include Alliance Community Pantry, Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority, The Commons and Direction Home.
Pow said Alliance Meals on Wheels offers a congregate site at Alliance Towers at Broadway and Arch, with those meals prepared by YWCA staff. The program hopes to add a second site in 2024.
How to getting involved
Individuals and groups can get involved with Meals on Wheels by donating their time. Volunteers spend one hour each weekday sometime between 10:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. as delivery drivers on a route that usually has 15 stops.
Members of Alliance YWCA also can allocate their membership fee to the Meals on Wheels program. Larger donations also are welcomes. For more information, call 330-823-1840.
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Alliance Meals on Wheels sees struggles ahead
