Meals on Wheels

Meal on Wheels is a non-profit volunteer organization that provides meals to people who are physically unable to shop for and prepare their own meals. They are shut-ins, the frail, elderly, disabled or convalescing individuals. Meals on Wheels is located at 223 West Amerige Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92832 in the Assistance League of Fullerton Philanthropy Building. The telephone number is (714) 871-2200.

In 1973, Fullerton Community Hospital approached the Volunteer Center of Orange County North and offered to help develop a "Meals on Wheels" program. National Charity League, The Ebell Club and the Red Cross were interested. The Volunteer Center coordinated these groups and on February 25th, 1974, the first meal was delivered. There were ten clients. In the 1980's, the Assistance League of Fullerton began contributing to the Meals on Wheels program by funding their office rent and utilities. In 1995, Meals on Wheels moved into the Assistance League of Fullerton philanthropy building to share space with our Operation School Bell^® program. Since 1994, Meals on Wheels has served 3,318 clients and has delivered approximately 1,175,102 meals. Approximately 49% receive subsidies; 92% are 55 and older; and 22% are male.

There are now over 300 volunteers serving and delivering to as many as 91 clients on 7 routes.

An important benefit of the program is the daily contact that the volunteers have with the clients. Besides discovering emergency situations, the program's meal deliveries provide many clients the opportunity of staying in their own home; thus enabling the clients to be independent of their relatives rather than being institutionalized.

Meals on Wheels has three food sources where meals are prepared: St. Jude Medical Center, Morningside Senior Assisted Living Center and the Feedback Foundation.

Regular and special diets are available. Thanks to St. Jude Medical Center and Morningside, more complicated diets are available such as controlled calorie count, dialysis and low cholesterol diets. The regular cost for Regular diet is $3.60 per day and a Special diet is $3.90 per day at St. Jude. Morningside charges $4.50 per day for both Regular and Special Diets.

Meals are delivered at noon five days a week. Clients receive two nutritionally balanced diets, a hot meal to be eaten upon delivery and a cold meal to be eaten for dinner. There is an exception to this, only frozen meals are served to 26 clients in the Feedback program.