‘The need is great’: Nonprofit WesleyLife opens new Meals on Wheels facility in Des Moines

After a year of construction and raising over $11 million, an old Drake University building opened its doors as a brand-new hub for one nonprofit's Meals on Wheels program on Friday, Dec. 1.

WesleyLife, a Des Moines-based organization that provides various services for older adults in central Iowa, broke ground for its new Meals on Wheels campus over a year ago with the promise to serve even more older adults and veterans across the Des Moines metro.

"It's investments like this one that make such an incredible difference in our communities and the lives of Iowans," Gov. Kim Reynolds said at the opening ceremony.

Reynolds joined Des Moines Mayor-Elect Connie Boesen; Rob Kretzinger, president and CEO of WesleyLife; Drake University President Marty Martin; Sophia Ahmad, vice president of philanthropy at WesleyLife; and Shannon Draayer, the director of health and wellbeing at WesleyLife at the opening ceremony of the new Meals on Wheels Campus.

This new facility will help WesleyLife produce 3,000 meals a day — tripling its meal production — to serve older adults and veterans and offer aid to other Meals on Wheels programs in the state, said Heather Stuyvesant, director of community nutrition at WesleyLife, last year at the groundbreaking of the facility.

"This campus will play a role in changing the social fabric of not only Des Moines, but the entire metro area by helping serve our older population and our veteran community," Boesen said.

About the new Meals on Wheels facility

The new Meals on Wheels campus is situated in the former College of Education building, which is located in the Drake University neighborhood at 3206 University Avenue in Des Moines. The facility features state-of-the-art kitchen appliances and the nation’s only Meals on Wheels-affiliated hydroponic farming operation, according to a news release.

"Folks are finding ways to make ends meet in many different ways, and we're a key part of that," Draayer said at the ceremony. "... this space is going to allow us to meet that growing need in new and imaginative and innovative ways."

The 5,000-square-foot kitchen includes cold and dry storage, mixers, tilt skillets and kettles, a grill and ovens, a blast chiller and warmer, a meal packaging station, a drive-thru window and a dishwashing station.

The campus also includes a restaurant, Hugo's Wood-Fired Kitchen, that will feature a Mediterranean menu; the Prairie Meadows Hydroponic Farm, which can produce 20,000 pounds of greens annually; and the Polk County Generations Hall, which is a collaborative space where multiple generations can connect.

How the new Meals on Wheels campus came to be

For over a decade, WesleyLife staff and volunteers were stationed in an about 3,000-square-foot kitchen that was tucked in an old Sherman Hill building, making only 1,000 meals a day.

The search for a new facility had been ongoing until early last year, when WesleyLife met philanthropist and Drake University Board of Trustee Suzie Glazer Burt, who donated $1.05 million to the project and acquired the former campus building through the university.

The new campus was made possible by a WesleyLife-affiliated capital campaign, "More than Meals", to raise money for the nearly $11 million renovation project and collected donations from more than 100 contributions.

"This campaign is unprecedented, and it would not have happened without the committed and talented volunteer leaders, without selfless generous donors and without remarkable support," said Ahmad.

Meals on Wheels, food insecurity in Des Moines

In 2021, 9,000 older adults in Polk County experienced food insecurity, a number that continues to increase with rising costs, according to Draayer. Eighty percent of WesleyLife's Meals on Wheels recipients live 185% below the federal poverty line, and across the state, 41% of older adults who are working are struggling to pay for basic necessities such as food, housing and health care, Draayer said at the groundbreaking event last year.

"The need is great, and this campus will play a critical role in addressing hunger in central Iowa," Gov. Reynolds said.

Now, with its doors open and kitchen ready to go, 3,000 meals will be able to be made and distributed to Iowans in need from the new Meals on Wheels campus.

"We're now serving 500,000 meals (in the greater Des Moines area) and that is incredible," Kretzinger said.

What is WesleyLife?

WesleyLife is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization made up of comprehensive retirement communities with a focus on health and well-being services and initiatives for older adults.

WesleyLife offers independent living and assisted living services, memory support, long-term care and more for those who may need assistance with their day-to-day lives.

The organization has worked with Meals on Wheels for the past 17 years to deliver fresh meals to older adults and military veterans who need meal assistance.

Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: WesleyLife's Meals on Wheels campus opens its doors to triple capacity