Elm Court Center Meals

With summer in full swing, Meals on Wheels People has been busier than ever ensuring that isolated, vulnerable and/or homebound seniors in the downtown Portland area receive much-needed meals and pantry staples, as well as conversation and social connections. The older adults served by the Elm Court Center represent some of our most vulnerable and food-insecure clients. Many of these seniors live alone in studio apartments or hotel rooms, subsist on low incomes, and frequently have no facilities available to prepare meals. Few have family or other resources to depend on in a time of crisis, let alone for the fundamentals of daily living. For many, Elm Court Center is their only source of fresh food daily, and often the Meals on Wheels People volunteer is the only person they will see and speak to in-person that week.

Not surprisingly, the number of home deliveries at Elm Court has significantly increased since the pandemic started. From July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 we served a total of 162,428 meals, as compared to 98,397 delivered during the same timeframe the year before. The cost impact of this increase in food at Elm Court alone is substantial, with total expenses at the site increasing $28K per month. Senior homelessness in Portland has also been on the rise, and Meals on Wheels People is more dedicated than ever to ensuring that these adults have access to healthy meals at Elm Court Center.

In addition to meals and socialization, we do our best to address additional challenges that arise for adults over 60. For example, during Oregon’s recent record heatwave, we were very concerned about the health and wellbeing of older adults without air conditioning. We put out a call via press releases and social media for fans for seniors and received over 400 fans in under two weeks from generous businesses and individuals. We continue to distribute fans for older adults in need, and also perform heat-related Well Check calls to remind seniors of ways they can stay hydrated and cool when temperatures soar, as well as to advise on how to find local cooling centers when the heat reaches dangerous levels in their home.

Generous donations from GlobalGiving participants cover healthy meals and nutritious pantry staples for the highest-need seniors we serve and help us address the challenges described above, ensuring that the rising costs of the program won’t interfere with our ability to provide meals and check-ins, camaraderie and conversations to seniors in the Elm Court Center service area. In the 51-year history of Meals on Wheels People we have never had a waiting list for our services, and we have no intention of allowing the challenges associated with COVID-19 and consequent increased expenses to change this commitment to older adults in need.