A Community
Service of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston
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Meals on Wheels for Greater Houston is supported, in part, by
Harris County Area Agency on Aging IM is a Beneficiary Agency of:
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Do you know what it's like to be truly hungry? The number of people age 65 years and older is estimated to double by 2020. Thirty percent of people 65 years and older have three chronic diseases. Nearly half of senior citizens over the age of 85 live alone. One in four seniors needs help with the tasks of daily living. For our clients, hunger and poverty only exacerbate these challenges. Imagine: thousands of seniors are forced to choose between buying food and paying rent, or buying food and paying utilities. This is not how the greater Houston community's elderly men and women should spend their Golden Years. ___________________________________________________ Meals on Wheels for Greater Houston (MOWGH) is the largest single provider of meals-on-wheels services in both greater Houston and the State of Texas, as well as one of the largest providers in the nation. We have been addressing the nutritional and emotional needs of seniors for 30 years. Five days per week, 251 days per year, drivers and volunteers deliver nutritious meals to seniors in their own homes. MOWGH's clients are homebound and cannot prepare their own food and/or shop for groceries. Due to their social isolation and debilitating physical conditions, many are among the most at-risk elderly living outside of an institution. Our services make it possible for seniors to continue living independently in their own homes, rather than being made to enter institutional care. Currently, MOWGH serves more than 3,300 hungry, homebound seniors. MOWGH is a community service of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston (IM). IM is Houston's oldest interfaith-based social service organization. We are not a religious organization nor do we promote any particular faith or creed; rather, we provide social services to seniors, refugees, and persons impacted by disaster. Our mission is to bring people of diverse faith traditions together for dialogue, collaboration, and service. CHALLENGE Senior hunger. MOWGH's challenge is to provide meal delivery and supportive services to all hungry, homebound seniors in greater Houston. Moreover, we want to facilitate systemic, sustainable change in the food security of seniors. MOWGH has the plan, labor, passion, and certainly, the demand for meal delivery services. What we lack is sufficient funding; current government and private funding resources are simply not enough. Presently, there are over 1,000 seniors on the MOWGH waiting list-and more are added every month. We have a long way to go until we reach our ultimate goal of serving all seniors in need. COMMITMENT In 2007, MOW committed to the following objectives: 1. Continue to provide nutritious meals five days per week to 3,300 or more seniors; 2. For the frailest and most isolated seniors-who have no alternative sources of nutrition or social support-provide:
3. By the end of 2008, significantly reduce the waiting list for meal delivery and supportive services (currently over 1,000 seniors); 4. Once
the challenge of the waiting list has been resolved, limit each senior's
wait time for services to no more than the length of time it takes
to process his or her application.
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We have reached 948 senior sponsorships. Your help is still greatly needed.
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Meals on Wheels for Greater Houston
3217 Montrose Boulevard, Houston, TX 77006
Phone: 713-533-4900, Fax: 713-520-4663
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