Mayor Trish Kelley this week helped to deliver meals to homebound seniors in honor of Mayors For Meals Day.
As part of the Meals on Wheels Association of America’s March for Meals campaign, mayors and elected officials across the nation deliver meals to seniors in their local communities one day each year as a way to generate awareness about senior hunger and the program’s benefits.
Mayor Kelley and City Manager Dennis Wilberg spent two hours delving into the program. They toured senior meal operations and met with Sharon Williamson, who heads up the program at the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center, and learned about the process — from food delivery and packaging meals to routes and the day-to-day operations. After that, volunteer Shelli Mire took the mayor and city manager on her delivery route to homebound seniors with different needs.
“I learned a lot about this wonderful program and its ability to meet the needs of many of our seniors who have difficulty with food shopping or meal preparation,” Mayor Kelley said.
The senior meal programs were the first programs offered through South County Senior Services (now Age Well Senior Services, Inc.) at the community center when it opened in 1989. The need for such a program is great. In the United States through the mid 2000s, more than 5 million seniors — 11.4 percent of all seniors — experienced some form of food insecurity. Of these, about 2.5 million were at risk of hunger and about 750,000 suffered from hunger due to financial constraints, according to the association.
“I have a new admiration for our dedicated volunteers, who provide a daily ray of sunshine to the residents on their routes, in addition to the good meals,” said Mayor Kelley. “The volunteers epitomize two of our Mission Viejo character qualities — Service and Caring!”
