About Us
Our Mission
Meals on Wheels and More seeks to nourish and enrich the lives of the homebound and other people in need through programs that promote dignity and independent living.
About Meals on Wheels and More
This year, MOWAM celebrates 37 years of service in the Greater Austin area. What began as a program of eight volunteers serving 29 seniors has now expanded into a multi-service organization of 5,000 volunteers serving almost 2,500 elderly and disabled persons each day.
Aside from preparing an average of 936,009 meals in 2008 year, MOWAM also offers many other programs designed to keep people healthy and living in their own homes.
MOWAM is a 501 c 3 organization and is independent and locally-run. We are a member of the Meals on Wheels Association of America, but receive no funds from it.
HISTORY
Meals on Wheels and More began in 1972 as an East Austin-based, grassroots organization staffed by only eight volunteers. Together, they cooked and delivered meals to 29 homebound seniors three times a week.
Within five years, the organization, then called United Action for the Elderly, Inc., began receiving grants and expanded to serve an average of 330 people six times a week. Ten years after that, 14 cooking sites had been established, and an average of 175,000 meals was being prepared each year.
In 1994, the organization changed its name to Meals on Wheels and More. By this time, four additional programs – Medi Wheels, Care Calls, Handy Wheels, and Groceries to Go – had been incorporated, and the meal-delivery program was serving over 1,000 people.
Today, Meals on Wheels and More delivers daily meals to about 2,000 homebound and disabled persons with the help of 3,000 volunteers and runs eight additional programs designed to keep our clients healthy.