$1.3M in funding for Citymeals-on-Wheels

City Councilmember James F. Gennaro announced his “Citymeals-on-Wheels” initiative that will give the organization $1.3 million in funding.
“The Citymeals-on-Wheels program is a vital lifeline for 18,000 elderly New Yorkers,” said Gennaro, who announced the initiative on June 5. “It is my privilege to be able to support our seniors in their time of need and enable them to remain in their homes for as long as possible.”
According to a Citymeals-on-Wheels spokesperson, $800,000 will be used to restore last year’s budget cuts and some of it will go to the 35-cent increase per meal cost. Each dollar given by the City Council is increased 14 times over by funds from private donations.
The Citymeals-on-Wheels organization, founded in 1981, runs throughout the city. Last year it had over 17,500 recipients and served over 2.5 million meals to homebound seniors whose average age was 82.
With 42 meal-centers in Queens, the elderly have meals delivered to them during the week by paid-deliverers and on the weekend by volunteers. Volunteers also visit some of the registered seniors, talk to them on the phone and write them letters.
“The City Council’s continued support of Citymeals-on-Wheels is critically important and enables us to feed ever growing numbers of aged New Yorkers in spite of rising food costs,” said Marcia Stein, Executive Director of Citymeals-on-Wheels.
Forecasts by The New York City Planning Department predict that in 25 years there will be 46 percent more New Yorkers over 60 and of those, more than 150,000 will be over 85.
For more information how you can help Citymeals-on-Wheels or how you can apply to be a recipient, you can visit www.citymeals.org.