Return to the Chillicothe UMC Homepage
Meals on Wheels delivery volunteers are a life link to the greater community for the Meals on Wheels recipients who frequently are unable to experience the world outside their homes. The bright smiles and friendly greetings from the delivery volunteer are as nourishing as the meals. This community project of Church Women United and in cooperation with other churches, is of great assistance to the elderly in the area. A warm meal is carried to the home of persons who cannot get out or are unable to prepare their own meals.
If you would like more information on the Chillicothe area Meals on Wheels program, please call our church office at 660-646-2580.
Today's Elderly Nutrition Programs
in the United States trace their roots back to Great Britain during World War
II (1939.)
During the Blitz, when German planes bombarded English soil, many people in
Britain lost their homes and , subsequently, their ability to cook meals for
themselves. The Women's Volunteer Service for Civil Defense responded to this
emergency by preparing and delivering meals to their disadvantaged neighbors.
These women also brought refreshments in canteens to servicemen during World
War II. The canteens came to be known as "Meals on Wheels." Thus,
the first organized nutrition program was born.
Following the war, the United
States embarked on its own experimental meal program.
What began as a single small
program serving seven seniors has grown into hundreds of local home-delivered
and congregate meal programs that serve millions of elderly, disabled, or at-risk
persons across the country.
The first American home-delivered
meal program began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in January of 1954.
At the request of the Philadelphia
Health & Welfare Council, and funded by a grant from the Henrietta Tower
Wurtz Foundation, Margaret Toy, a social worker in Philadelphia's Lighthouse
Community Center, pioneered a program to provide nourishment that met the dietary
needs of homebound seniors and other "shut-ins" in the area who otherwise
would have to go hungry. As is the case today, many participants were people
who did not require hospitalization, but who simply needed a helping hand in
order to maintain their independence. Most of the volunteers were high school
students, who were dubbed "Platter Angels." The "Platter Angels"
would prepare, package, and deliver food to the elderly and disabled through
their community.
The daily delivery consisted of
one nutritionally balanced hot meal to eat at lunch time and a dinner, consisting
of a cold sandwich and milk along with varying side dishes.
In an effort both to cover
costs and to maintain the elders' sense of dignity, the program charged a fee
ranging from 40 to 80 cents per day based on the individual's ability to pay.
The delivery was so efficient that seniors often would jokingly complain to
volunteers if the meal arrived only a few minutes off schedule. Had there been
no Lighthouse program, many of the seniors would have had to remain in the hospital
simply to ensure they received the nutrition needed to regain their strength.
The task of identifying those
who were truly in need of home delivered meals was more difficult than preparing
and delivering the meals themselves.
As stated, the program was
set up to help a very specific element of the community; it fed those who, without
the service, would otherwise go hungry. The Philadelphia Lighthouse turned to
the Visiting Nurse Society (VNS), the Philadelphia Department of Public Assistance,
or hospital social services to refer potential clients who were eligible for
services. These agencies were able to locate prospective participants, since
the lists of names of recently released hospital patients were readily accessible
to them. Another successful method of identifying eligible members was through
concerned neighbors who provided the names of needy seniors in their communities.
Columbus, Ohio, was the second
city in the U.S. to establish a community based meals program.
Building on the model set forth
in Philadelphia, a federation of women's clubs throughout the town to inform
them of possible participants for the meal service. Then a group of "inspectors"
from the associated women's clubs visited the persons on the list. The inspectors
evaluated whether or not the seniors had the ability to pay for the meals and
charged on a sliding scale, from $.80 to $2.00 a day. In Columbus, all the meals
were prepared by local restaurants and delivered by taxi cabs during the week.
On weekends high school students filled the posts.
The city of Rochester, New York,
began its home-delivered meal program in 1958.
It was originally a pilot project
initiated by the New York Department of Health and administered by the Visiting
Nurse Service. The Visiting Nurse Service charged participants fees ranging
from 50 cents to $1.85 per meal for dues and the Bureau of Chronic Diseases
and Geriatrics of the New York Department of Health paid for the remaining costs.
Eventually, cities nationwide followed with similar programs.
FACT SHEETS
Administration on Aging
Statistical Information on Older Persons
Administration on Aging The
Elderly Nutrition Program
Administration on Aging
and the Older Americans Act
National Policy and Resource Center
on Nutrition and Aging
Food Stamps
for the Elderly Web Resource Center