Citymeals on Wheels, also called Citymeals, is a

Meals on Wheels Meals on Wheels is a programme that delivers meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meals. The name is often used generically to refer to home-delivered meals programmes, not all of which are actually named ...

-type nonprofit organization in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

that raises private funds to provide prepared meals and social support to homebound elderly residents of

History

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and

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...

founded Citymeals on Wheels in 1981 to supplement the government's meal delivery program. Greene had the idea after reading a newspaper article about homebound elderly New Yorkers with nothing to eat on weekends and holidays. Greene approached Beard with the idea, and the two raised money to provide

Christmas dinner Christmas dinner is a meal traditionally eaten at Christmas. This meal can take place any time from the evening of Christmas Eve to the evening of Christmas Day itself. The meals are often particularly rich and substantial, in the tradition of ...

s for 6,000 needy elderly at a cost of $35,000. The success of the program inspired them to continue the following year. Citymeals has an annual budget of $20 million and had 15,412 volunteers in 2016. The majority of the organization's funding comes from donations from private individuals. The current executive director is Beth Shapiro, who took over from founding director Marcia Stein in 2011. On October 29, 2018 Citymeals celebrated the opening of the Joan & Bob Tisch Emergency Meal Distribution Center in

Hunts Point, Bronx Hunts Point is a neighborhood located on a peninsula in the South Bronx of New York City. It is the location of one of the largest food distribution facilities in the world, the Hunts Point Cooperative Market. Its boundaries are the Bruckner Exp ...

. Use of the 30,000 foot warehouse was planned in the aftermath of

Hurricane Sandy in New York New York was severely affected by Hurricane Sandy on October 29–30, 2012, particularly New York City, its suburbs, and Long Island. Sandy's impacts included the flooding of the New York City Subway system, of many suburban communities, and of a ...

, to help Citymeals deal with increased demand during future emergencies. Citymeals provides around 2 million meals annually, and as of March 2020 has distributed around 60 million meals since its founding in 1981.

COVID-19 Response

Citymeals doubled its staff in March 2020 in order to provide food for increasing numbers of homebound and at risk senior citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. The organization began producing 250,000 meals in the three weeks of the pandemic, with plans to sustain increased meal production. Citymeals began working with 250 meal delivery centers in New York, whereas previously the organization had partners with 30 delivery centers.

Services

Citymeals provides free meal delivery to elderly residents of New York living without

food security Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World F ...

, and also performs wellness checks on these individuals. The organization contracts with local meal centers to prepare and deliver meals on Saturdays and Sundays, as government funding only covers weekday meals and does not cover holidays. Friendly visiting is also an important part of the Citymeals mission, and volunteer groups spend social time with isolated elderly to help their loneliness.

Holiday Meals

Citymeals funding allows government centers to remain open on holidays for those who are able to walk in and volunteers deliver meals to the homebound. Citymeals funds holiday meals for

Rosh Hashanah Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

Chanukah or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem) , nickname = , observedby = Jews , begins = 25 Kislev , ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet , celebrations = Lighting candles each night ...

, New Year’s Day and

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

Holiday Food Boxes

When local meal centers close throughout the year for holiday observances, Citymeals will guarantee that homebound clients have food. Boxes of shelf-stable foods such as canned tuna and chicken, shelf-stable milk, cookie, crackers and juices are provided. Citymeals provides holiday boxes for

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

, Season’s Greetings,

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monda ...

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

and

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

Emergency boxes

Emergency boxes containing non-perishable food out to homebound elderly clients in late fall to provide security through the winter months. Clients are encouraged to keep some food on hand in case a winter weather emergency keeps regular meals deliveries from getting to them. The additional emergency food packages are sent quarterly to recipients on wait lists and/or second meals clients.

Supper Meals

A joint study between Citymeals on Wheels and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

found that 14% of Citymeals’ clients relied on the program as their sole source of food. These individuals did not have the means to supplement their one daily home-delivered meal. Citymeals delivers supper meals to these elderly who are the poorest, frailest and most isolated.

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.citymeals.org 1981 establishments in New York City Charities based in New York City Food banks in New York (state) Hunger relief organizations Non-profit organizations based in New York City Organizations established in 1981