Catawba County News
Catawba County 101
Published: May 02, 2024
MAKING. LIVING. BETTER: SOCIAL SERVICES (Senior Nutrition Services)
What is its mission/purpose?
Our mission is to improve seniors’ quality of life by providing them the choice to remain at home through the provision of nutritious meals, education, socialization, wellness activities and community volunteer support.
How do you achieve your mission – what services are offered?
Our programs include Meals on Wheels, Seniors Morning Out and Frozen Meals.
Who does this department/service area/program serve?
We serve clients who are 60 years of age or older.
How and where are services delivered?
For Meals on Wheels, we have 30 delivery routes that are picked up from 11 different locations throughout Catawba County. Meals on Wheels serves seniors who are homebound. In addition to providing a nutritious meal, our volunteers are providing an important safety check. If a senior doesn’t answer the door, we will follow up with the senior and their emergency contact to assure that the senior is safe. For seniors who are still active and able to get out of their homes, we have five Seniors Morning Out sites that meet Mondays-Thursdays for a variety of programs and a hot, nutritious lunch: First Presbyterian Church in Newton, the Maiden Community Center, Center Church in Catawba, First United Methodist Church in Hickory and the West Hickory Senior Center (Council on Aging). Our Frozen Meals program is available to serve homebound seniors who might otherwise be placed on a waitlist. Last year, we served 133,364 meals to 1,292 seniors in Catawba County.
How many staff members are involved in delivering services?
We have six full-time staff and five part-time staff. We also have close to 700 active volunteers (including some county employees!) who commit to delivering a meal route once a month.
How does our community and/or organization benefit from these services?
Seniors who are able to remain in their own homes are happier and healthier. It is also much less expensive to serve someone in their home than it is to care for them in an assisted living facility or nursing home.
Please share anything unique or interesting about this program you would want people to know.
Attached team photo was taken at our annual volunteer appreciation breakfast where we served breakfast to 175 of our volunteers. Team member Maria Miller is missing from the photo – she was covering the office for us.
Is there anything you would like to add?
We’re always recruiting for new volunteers --- if you can take a longer lunch once a month to serve seniors in the community, please give us a call!