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MEALS ON WHEELS NEEDS YOU
June 1, 2005
Dear Friend:
There’s no place like home…especially as you grow older. Home is full of wonderful memories. It’s safe and secure. Most of us would prefer to continue to live in our own homes for as long as we are able. Aging isn’t always easy. The passage of time often brings unwanted changes in health and well-being. Eyesight fades, hearing diminishes, and mobility can become impaired.
In the Berkshires, from 1990 to 2000, the percentage of the population over 75 years of age grew by 16.5%. Whether due to chronic disease or the rigors of age, many older people can no longer do for themselves what they easily did before. Activities as simple as bathing and dressing require motor skills and stamina that many of those we serve (70% of whom are over 75) no longer possess.
For over thirty years, Elder Services has been helping older people improve the quality of their lives, making it possible for them to continue to stay in their own homes by providing the assistance they need with daily living.
When elders can no longer:
prepare hot meals, we
provide Meals on Wheels.
bathe and dress
independently, we provide assistance with personal care
clean their own homes, we
provide homemaking and laundry assistance
drive, we arrange
transportation to doctor’s appointments
purchase their own
groceries, we offer volunteer shoppers
write checks and pay bills,
we provide Money Management assistance
live alone, we offer adult family care, congregate living, and supportive housing.
Elder Services promotes elder independence and keeps older persons safely in their own homes by providing home care and other supportive services to over 10,000 Berkshire elders and their caregivers each year. State and federal funding only goes so far in making these essential services available to Berkshire elders. We need your help, especially for our Meals on Wheels program – see chart below.
Won’t you take a few minutes right now and make out a check to Elder Services for whatever you can afford to give?
Thank you. Your help is much
appreciated!
Sincerely,
William L. Dudley, President
Board of Directors
Meals on Wheels Fact Sheet 2005
It is estimated that nationwide one in four senior citizens is malnourished. The cost of home delivered meals to one Berkshire County elder for one year is less than the national average cost of just one day in the hospital.
In Berkshire County, Meals on Wheels provides hot, nutritious, home-delivered meals to over 750 homebound elders each weekday.
Elder Services’ Lanesboro Kitchen prepared 250,000 meals in fiscal year 2004 (an increase of 5,000 over the previous year), with 194,600 meals delivered to the homes of elders who need Meals on Wheels. The other 55,400 meals were served at 14 congregate meal sites throughout the county.
Federal funding for this essential program has remained basically the same for
the past 11 years, while the costs of purchasing the food, preparing the meals, and delivering them to the homes of the elders who need them has continued to increase.
The total cost of each meal is $5.96. Federal and State funding, combined with Client Contributions, provides $5.49, leaving a $.47 funding gap per meal, which adds up to a $117,500 deficit for this fiscal year alone.
The elders who receive Meals on Wheels need your help.
Thank you for your support of this essential,
life-giving program.