Fayette Senior Services has been awarded $15,000 through a Walmart Foundation grant to the Meals On Wheels Association of America (MOWAA). The money will provide Fayette Senior Services Meals On Wheels program with a much-needed storage freezer, coolers, and computer equipment that is critical to the operations and management of the Meals On Wheels program to continue serving seniors in the community.
Meals On Wheels programs across the country are struggling to survive during this economic downturn. The “Walmart Foundation Impact Grant” is intended to help organizations continue to meet the long-term equipment needs of providing meals to homebound seniors.
Last year, many Meals On Wheels programs were forced to change or reduce their services, but the Walmart Foundation stepped in to help restore those meals. This year, the Walmart Foundation is spending more than $2 million nationwide to make sure Meals On Wheels programs have the equipment they need to maintain their operations into the future.
“Seniors have been hit especially hard in this economy and we feel a responsibility to help,” said Margaret McKenna, president of the Walmart Foundation. “We’re proud to support Meals on Wheels programs across the U.S. who work on the front lines of ending senior hunger.”
“Thanks to the Walmart Foundation Impact Grant, we now have better tools to keep up with the growing demand for our Meals On Wheels service,” said Debbie Britt, Executive Director of Fayette Senior Services. Britt adds, “We deliver more than 40,000 meals to seniors in our community who cannot purchase or prepare a nutritious meal for themselves. We found ourselves with storage and equipment challenges that kept us from managing the program in the most efficient way. The grant will help us to operate more cost effectively and efficiently.”
“The Walmart Foundation has once again stepped up to the plate as a powerful partner in the fight to end senior hunger,” said Enid Borden, president and CEO of MOWAA. “They are our largest corporate partner to date and their support will make a tremendous impact in helping our programs sustain meal services well into the future. We can’t thank the Walmart Foundation enough for joining us in our national movement to end senior hunger in America by 2020.”
Late last year MOWAA released a groundbreaking study revealing six million seniors in America face the risk of hunger. The report, entitled, “Senior Hunger in the United States: Differences across States and Rural and Urban Areas” was sponsored by MOWAA and shows that the number of seniors facing the hunger risk jumped an astonishing 20 percent in just one year. The Walmart Impact Grant Program is intended to help combat the problem of senior hunger.
Fayette Senior Services (FSS), a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, provides a broad scope of life-enhancing services to Fayette County’s older adults. As the designated aging service provider for Fayette County, FSS provides social services for seniors to help them maintain their independence and improve their quality of life. These programs include Meals on Wheels, Adult Day Referral Service, Information & Assistance, Transportation, In-Home Personal Care/Homemaker Services, Home Repair, and Case Management. In addition, FSS’s beautiful Life Enrichment Center is celebrated as Fayette’s premier community center for active older adults. The Center offers an interesting variety of social, educational, fitness and recreational activities, the Ultimate Café, special events, and much more! To learn more visit www.FayetteSeniors.org or call 770-461-0813.
