Meals on Wheels of Palestine, Inc. needs your support
May 19—Tri-County Meals on Wheels has served the elderly of this Anderson, Cherokee and Rusk counties since 1977. Without community support it will be unable to continue providing meals to our seniors.
According to Ruby Taylor, MOW Executive Director, roughly 40% of its services are served in Anderson County, with 77% donations in local funds.
This includes United Way, client donations, local grants from private individuals and county support. The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect client donations. At one time MOW was taking in between $2000 and $3000 of client donations per month from all three counties.
Now they are receiving an average of $1100 per month.
The pandemic also had its effect on revenue from fundraisers and the rental of facility for events. This affected local funding by $85,000.
Taylor said reserve funds have dwindled substantially, not necessarily because of a lack of increased funding on a state and federal level, but because of not enough increases to keep up with inflation and the higher cost of general operation expenses and increased demand for homebound services.
"We depend on all local funding to supplement our state and federal contract funds," Taylor said. "The government funds approximately 43% of the meals and Meals on Wheels of Palestine, Inc. is expected to fund the other 57% through donations, fundraisers, United Way organizations, etc."
MOW served all its homebound clients throughout the pandemic because of its commitment "to make sure that no client goes hungry."
"We had to make a few adjustments to our deliveries to ensure the safety of the clients and staff," Taylor said. "We are designed to meet the nutritional and social needs of seniors. Approximately 60% of home delivered meal recipients live alone and, for many of them, the person delivering the meal is often the only person they will see that day."
The Tri-County Meals on Wheels is asking residents in businesses in the community to consider being a recurring donor or to give a donation to help eliminate the escalating problem of senior hunger and isolation.
In 2019, Meals on Wheels America reported nearly 9.5 million seniors were threatened by hunger and 7.1 million lived in poverty.
"Together we must invest more fully in Tri-County Meals on Wheels as it enables vulnerable seniors to remain healthy while living at home," Taylor said. "It costs $6.49 per meal to serve one person. To feed one person per month costs $130. For one year it costs $1558."
"We served 55,543 total meals in Anderson County in the fiscal year 2020-2021," she said. "The cost of these meals was $258,302. The cost includes food, food preparation, administration, transportation/delivery, salaries, phone, alarm system, building maintenance, utilities and other necessary expenses. Of course we are all aware of the significant increase in gas and food prices which have resulted in businesses increasing the cost of food and gas. If you are unable to help us with a monetary donation, perhaps you can be a volunteer driver."
Should you need any additional information, you can call the MOW office from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at 903-729-6344.
Donation can be mailed to Tri-County Meals on Wheels, P.O. Box 1365, Palestine, TX 75802.
"Thank you in advance for your support and remember Meals on Wheels delivers so much more than just a meal, and together we can deliver," Taylor said.
