Page 12 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Summer 2019- Online Magazine
P. 12

HONORING SENIORS


           Building the Future of                                                                 by Susie Akers




                                    Meals on Wheels in Amarillo

                  eals on Wheels
                  of Amarillo has
          Mbeen in a Capital
          Campaign, raising money              Many have
          to build a new administrative office, for   beloved pets
          the last year and a half. We are excited   they don’t want
          to announce that we have reached our   to leave behind
          goal and broke ground in May.        to move into
                                               costly nursing
          Our new offices will be in the medical   facilities, which
          district, near both BSA and Northwest   they often can’t
          Texas hospitals, where our meals are   afford. Meals
          produced. Being located closer to    on Wheels
          the hospitals will be so much more   extends the time a person can live
          convenient, safer for staff, more    independently by shouldering some of
          appealing to clients and families, as   the burden of caring for oneself.
          well as provide better visibility for
          recruiting volunteers, enabling us to   This organization has never accepted
          continue to meet the needs of an aging   money from a federal or state
          population as we serve more seniors.   government agency, and we have never
                                               been a United Way agency. We depend
          MOW of Amarillo was organized in     on the generosity of our community to
          1971 by twelve local churches and 25   help us continue
          volunteers, serving 14 elderly people.   to provide these
          Nearly five decades later, our program   beneficial services
          feeds hot, nutritious meals to over 245   that so many
          homebound seniors, with the support   seniors rely upon.
          of over 300 volunteers and 26 routes
          located across Amarillo.             MOW of Amarillo
                                               has been taking
          Often, our friendly, caring volunteer   care of our
          drivers are the only people our clients   most vulnerable
          see each weekday. Delivering a hot,   citizens for 48
          nutritious meal is vital to helping   years, and we
          seniors maintain their health. Providing   are planning,            We deliver more than a meal.
          a critical safety check and helping   preparing, and
          combat depression and loneliness are   positioning
          priceless services MOW provides as   ourselves to
          well, five days a week.              become an even
                                               more valuable
          We have seen tremendous growth       community
          in our program in the last couple of   resource for
          years. As baby boomers retire in record   Amarillo’s
          numbers, and many people from rural   homebound
          counties move to Amarillo to be closer   seniors. We invite
          to our wonderful medical facilities, we   everyone to join
          see an even greater need for MOW.    us in celebrating
                                               the next chapter
          Almost all seniors prefer to remain in   in our history.
          their own homes for as long as possible.                                    219 W. 7th Ave.
                                                                                     Amarillo, TX 79101
                                                                                      (806) 374-1521
                                                                               www.AmarilloMealsOnWheels.org


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