The annual March for Meals celebration commemorates the historic day in March of 1972 when President Nixon signed into law a measure that amended the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include a national nutrition program for seniors 60 years and older. More than 50 years later, 12 million older Americans are still threatened by or experience hunger, and one in three seniors reports feeling lonely.
In 2023, Meals on Wheels America launched the #SaveLunch campaign, designed to rally communities around our senior neighbors and protect the essential services that enable them to remain healthy and independent at home.
Meals on Wheels San Francisco is proud to join Meals on Wheels programs nationwide to celebrate more than 50 years of success and garner the support needed to ensure these critical programs can continue to meet the growing need.
Meals on Wheels San Francisco’s Impact on the Community in 2023
Older adults served in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties
Number of new seniors in need of meals in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties during the year
Meals prepared and delivered to seniors living in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties
Wellness visits by our drivers during the year
2023 March for Meals with Meals on Wheels San Francisco
District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin and George
MOWSF Social Worker Kristi Hirsch and George
District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, Roslyn, and MOWSF Social Worker, Lois Heaton-Camacho
Lois and Roslyn
District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, Santiago Lerma, and Kristi Hirsch
MOWSF Social Worker Kristi Hirsch, Tom, District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, Santiago Lerma,
2024 Meals on Wheels America National Advocacy Agenda
Meals on Wheels provides nutritious home-delivered meals and human connection to millions of older adults across the country, serving as a vital solution to the escalating issues of senior hunger and isolation. To that end, Meals on Wheels America advocates for increased federal funding and policies that strengthen and support the nationwide network of community-based senior nutrition programs and the diverse, growing population of older adults it serves.
In 2024, Meals on Wheels America will call upon Congress and the Administration to:
Reauthorize and strengthen the Older Americans Act (OAA)
- Protect the OAA’s core purposes of reducing hunger, social isolation, and loneliness, and improving older adult health and well-being.
- Increase authorized funding levels for all OAA programs and establish incentives and funding for enhanced nutrition services (e.g. medically tailored or culturally appropriate meals).
- Unify the Congregate and Home-Delivered Nutrition Services and the Nutirtion Services Incentive Program (NSIP) into a single Title III-C Nutirtion Program to improve efficiency and enable local providers to more easily tailor services to seniors’ needs.
- Prioritize community-based organizations for nutrition services contracts and improve the reimbursement and payment process.
- Modernize the OAA to incorporate innovations, flexbility and successful practices leveraged durign the pandmeic.
Increase funding and support for senior nutrition programs.
- Provide $1.284 billion for OAA nutrition programs in FY 2024 and sufficient funding in FY 2025 to address increased demand for meals and rising operational costs.
- Protect other federal funding sources supporting local Meals on Wheels programs, including Social Services, Community Services and Community Development Block Grants, and Medicare and Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS).
- Enhance the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP).
- Improve charitable giving and volunteer tax incentives to generate more resources and expand capacity for nonprofits, including passing the Charitable Act (H.R. 3435, S. 566) and Volunteer Driver Tax Appreciation Act (H.R. 3032, S. 3020).
Expand nutrition access and social connection for older adults.
- Reauthorize and protect the nutrition programs in the Farm Bill, as well as improve access and support for older adults by including the Senior Hunger Prevention Act (H.R. 3474, S. 1036).
- Advance Food as Medicine interventions such as establishing home-delivered meals provided by community-based providers as a fully reimbursable benefit through fee-for-service Medicare, Medicaid Advantage, and Medicaid and passing the Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Act (H.R. 6780, S. 2133).
- Address the epidemic of social isolation and loneliness declared by the U.S. Surgeon General through nationally coordinated awareness, initiatives, and research, as proposed in the National Strategy for Social Connection Act (S. 2350) and Improving Measurements for Loneliness and Isolation Act (H.R. 6284, S. 3260)
TELL CONGRESS TO PROTECT OLDER AMERICANS
Meals on Wheels is powered by people just like you. Together, we are millions of seniors, volunteers, dedicated staff and donors strong. We need your help to fund and protect the programs that support seniors.
Email your U.S. Senators and Representative today!
2021 March for Meals: This year’s celebrations across the country look a little different as a result of the pandemic due to concerns with COVID-19.
2019 March for Meals: Mayor London Breed visits Mrs. Lee and her family.
2018 March for Meals: Mayor Mark Farrell visits Maurice, a San Francisco resident since 1959.