Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation helps Meals on Wheels11:23AM / Thursday, March 12, 2009
Elder Services of Berkshire County has received two grants, totaling $9,200, from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation's, William J. and Margery S. Barrett and Central Berkshire Funds. The Barrett Fund, which gave $6,000, serves those who live in Adams, Cheshire and Savoy, and the Central Berkshire Fund, which gave $3,200, will benefit those who live in Becket, Dalton, Hinsdale, Peru, Washington, and Windsor.
The funding is designated for Elder Services Nutrition/Meals on Wheels program, which provides hot, nutritious meals to over 1,000 Berkshire elders each weekday. In the year 2008, Elder Services served over a quarter-million meals - over 200,000 were delivered as Meals on Wheels to frail elders who might not otherwise have had a hot meal or a friendly visit, and the remaining meals were served to seniors attending Elder Services 15 group lunch sites, located throughout the county.
Federal funding for Elder Services Nutrition/Meals on Wheels program has remained basically the same for more than a decade, while the cost of preparing, serving, and delivering the meals continues to grow year after year, leaving the program dangerously under-funded. The Nutrition program has been generating a significant deficit each year, which Elder Services addresses in part through community fund-raising efforts.
These grants will help ensure that Berkshire seniors who need home-delivered meals will continue to receive them.
Elder Services Meals on Wheels program is essential to the agency's mission to provide Berkshire seniors the opportunity to live with dignity, independence and self-determination, and to achieve the highest possible quality of life. |
