By Julie Piper Finley | Director of Marketing & Communications
The Weekend Meal Program for Seniors at the Elm Court Center in downtown Portland is an ongoing program. Meals on Wheels People serves and delivers 5,000 meals every weekday to seniors in three counties through 34 neighborhood dining rooms and Meals on Wheels service. We are open at only one location on weekends -- Elm Court. This location serves some of our most financially vulnerable seniors. Many of them live in small apartments or residential hotels without cooking facilities. If not for our meal program, they would have no access to fresh food on weekends.
Between July 1 and Sept. 15, 2013, we served 1,122 meals to seniors on the weekends. That conpares to 866 meals served in the same time period the previous year. Our annual client surveys indicate that more seniors than ever before are living at or below poverty. In 2009, the poverty rate among seniors was just 9%. In 2013, that number in Multnomah County (where our Elm Court Center operates) had jumped to 25%. Seniors are looking to Meals on Wheels People for fresh, nutritious meals they cannot provide for themselves on their limited incomes. The Elm Court Center also provides a safe gathering place for seniors, many of whom live alone.
The cost of a senior meal is just $3.95. We are very grateful to the Global Giving donors for their generous support of senior nutrition.
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