Meals on Wheels Association of America (MOWAA)

Meals on Wheels Association of America// www.mowaa.org

Meals on Wheels is well-represented in the United States as well as in the United States Territories providing over 1 million meals per day to seniors in need.  Through over 5000 Senior Nutrition Programs, the organization is able to serve meals to Senior living facilities as well as directly to the homes of seniors who have difficulty in traveling out of their homes to get their meals for the day.  Meals on Wheels is able to reach hundreds of thousands of seniors through these Nutrition Programs.  Meals on Wheels employs professionals in these Senior Nutrition Programs and also is supported by an 'army of volunteers' reaching about 1.7 million individuals.  This amount of volunteers is said to be the largest amount of volunteers supporting an organization in the nation.

Meals on Wheels Association of America// www.mowaa.org

The mission of Meals on Wheels is to end senior hunger by 2020.  This is a huge feat, but with the support system that stands behind the organization, MOWAA believes that they can achieve this goal.  The goal, they say, can be achieved by recruiting over 6 million people to stand up and pledge that they will do what it takes to end senior hunger.  Senior hunger is a huge problem in this world.  Research has revealed that over 8 million senior citizens in the United States alone face the threat of hunger.  Through an approach MOWAA calls the four pillars, Meals on Wheels believes that can end senior hunger.
The Four Pillars:
1.) The National Campaign for Community Impact--enables local Meals on Wheels programs to serve more meals through grants and other resources.  This campaign also allows seniors to live independently in their own homes by ensuring that a MOWAA worker will show up every day and give them a heated meal and serve them, it provides the local organizations with the ability to maintain and repair their much-needed equipment and also enables them to serve more meals
2.) The Meals on Wheels Leadership Academy--through what is called 'The Academy', MOWAA empowers leaders in the senior nutrition field by training them, giving them skills and educating them with best practices to succeed in serving these seniors.  MOWAA even provides scholarships to volunteers who couldn't otherwise attend 'The Academy.'
3.) The National Response to Senior Hunger--by forming public and private partnerships to end senior hunger, MOWAA is able to raise awareness of this issue, conduct more research on the extent of senior hunger and identify emerging trends such as how Senior Nutrition Programs in rural areas face unique challenges as compared to those in thriving areas

Meals on Wheels Association of America// www.mowaa.org

4.) Capacity Building--MOWAA is focused on constantly being there for its local programs and providing whatever they may need to be successful and working towards the mission of ending senior hunger, they also remain transparent financially by having their financial statements available to the general public and they work diligently to keep their overhead costs as low as possible

Meals on Wheels Association of America// www.mowaa.org

If this program speaks to you, I think you should get involved with it.  Chances are, there will be a local program near you that you can join.  You will never understand how grateful these seniors will be to have a warm meal hand-delivered to them by somebody who truly cares.  Many of these senior citizens are lonely and you might be the best part of their day.  Check out their web site and get involved.  Whether you know somebody who needs this service or you think you'd like to donate financially or become a part of ending senior hunger, there are so many great ways to become involved.  You can even buy the Meals on Wheels Family Cookbook on their web site.  Help end senior hunger because they deserve this service.