History:

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation generously awarded MOWAA $500,000 in December of 2009 in an effort to combat senior hunger. Half of the funds allowed MOWAA to implement the Emergent Meal Grant Program. The purpose of the Emergent Meal Grant Program was to award grants of up to $10,000 to selected MOWAA Member programs facing challenges providing meals to seniors in the suffering economy. The remaining $250,000 went to support the Meals On Wheels Leadership Academy and will be utilized for leadership development and professional training for promising leaders throughout the Association.

Impact:

Thanks to the Bank of America Charitable Foundation’s generous donation, forty-one programs were given an Emergent Meal Grant Program award to provide meals to seniors in their communities. Below are several examples of the enormous impact the $250,000 had on our Member programs.

• Las Vegas, NV – The program’s current waiting list of 800 seniors will be significantly reduced and hundreds of seniors will receive a daily safety check.
• Benton Harbor, MI – Seniors who currently receive a frozen meal once per week will now receive a hot meal daily.
• Campbell, CA – The program will restore weekend meal service to 29 seniors for an entire year.

The forty-one grants also provided a unique opportunity for the winning programs to work side-by-side with their local Bank of America establishments to raise awareness and help end senior hunger.