At Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches, we provide our homebound senior clients with freshly prepared and nutritious meals. Meals are delivered several times a week by our friendly, background screened volunteers. The meal delivery serves as a warm human interaction as well as a well-being check. Other than occasional medical appointments, the seniors must be home to accept the deliveries directly from the volunteer. We strive to begin the much-needed nourishment without delay and without a wait list. Most eligible individuals receive meals within a few weeks of the first phone call. Once enrolled, we provide our seniors with additional support and peace of mind by:
- Calling their emergency contact person if there is no response for their meal delivery
- Or if any signs of personal decline/confusion are observed
- Helping to care for their pets by providing food and veterinary care through our AniMeals program *
- Supporting those with additional food needs through our monthly Grocery Bag Program *
- Celebrating their birthdays by sending birthday cards and cake
- Providing a 3-day box of shelf-stable meals/snacks/drinks at the beginning every of hurricane season
- Celebrating monthly "Fun Food Holidays" with extra treats
- A few of our favorites: Examples: National Chocolate Pudding Day, October is National Cookie Month, National Pumpkin Bread Day,
- Encouraging cognitive engagement with puzzles
- Rewarding those who complete the monthly word search challenge with Goody Bags
Our program serves seniors aged 65 and upwho we determine to be either entirely or primarily homebound. With our volunteer driven program, we deliver directly to the senior who benefits from the interaction and needs that extra level of check-in during the week.
How do we define homebound? To be considered "entirely" homebound, an individual is physically unable to leave the house without assistance from someone else, can no longer drive or uses public transportation independently. Someone who is "primarily" homebound may still be driving (or using transportation) in a limited capacity to the store or doctor, however it is challenging, and they require mobility aids to do so. A homebound individual is typically in the home 80% of the time and will be home for our weekday deliveries, with exceptions for medical appointments. Income or assets do not have any bearing on eligibility; rather we focus on the individual's physical mobility limitations.
The individual fits one of the following scenarios:
- Homebound and living alone
- Homebound and living with a spouse or partner who is also homebound
- There are two people in the home, one person is homebound and the spouse/partner, or adult child they reside with is their caregiver or who care gives while also working.
Other factors that may apply:
- We serve those who will need home delivered meals for the foreseeable future, as well as those recuperating from an illness or surgery who expect to regain their mobility
- Our minimum length of service is normally one month
- Service is prioritized for seniors who have no home health assistance or less than 4 hours daily of home health assistance
- We will consider service requested for someone under age 65 on a temporary basis as resources allow; if approved it may be up to 60 days.
This is meant as a general overview and other factors may be applicable for eligibility.
We provide meals at a subsidized cost to all seniors that we serve. Each client pays towards the cost of the meal based on a sliding scale, with everyone contributing based on their financial ability. The scale starts at $1.75/meal ($35/4 weeks) for those with limited income and no savings and ranges up to $7.00/meal ($140/4 weeks), with $7.00 per meal the most a senior would pay. We look at household savings level and monthly income to determine the amount of subsidy provided.
For military veterans we will screen them for eligibility to receive fully subsidized (free) meals based on current grant funding guidelines. Normally the veteran eligible for full subsidy has limited household savings and income up to 150% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Our clients find that our meals provide them with high quality, delicious food that boosts their nutrition and provides peace of mind knowing they have meals coming to their door. Our program operates without government funding, and each client contributing according to their ability helps us meet nutritional needs quickly and avoid a wait list for service. The clients are set up for convenient monthly deductions from either a debit or credit card. In addition, our clients may utilize SNAP as a payment method as we are an authorized SNAP participant.
