Beneficiaries
Meals on Wheels, an independent, non-profit organization, delivers hot, nutritious meals to homebound residents of the Charlottesville/Albemarle area who find it difficult or impossible to prepare meals for themselves. Currently, we deliver lunchtime meals every Monday through Friday, including all holidays that fall on weekdays to more than 200 clients.
Anyone who is physically or mentally unable to prepare nutritious meals and who has no one to help them with meal preparation is eligible to receive meals. This includes people ranging in age from 20 to 99 who need short-term assistance while recovering from an illness, surgery or hospital stay and those with chronic physical or mental illness, or other long term needs. Financial assistance is available for to all clients who meet the above criteria and have no resources to pay for meals.
As an independent, local organization, Meals on Wheels relies on contributions from the community to support its program. While some clients can pay the full cost of their meals, the vast majority of our clients (80+%) receive meals paid for through community contributions made directly to Meals on Wheels.
Meals on Wheels is happy to be able to provide “extra” services for its recipients, such as wintertime emergency food bags, birthday cards, and holiday gifts, which are only possible through the generous help we’ve received through the years from local businesses and community groups.
Meals on Wheels provides a source of daily social contact for people who would otherwise be alone. It also allows for earlier release from hospitals and long term care facilities, and gives many people the opportunity to live in their own homes for longer periods of time. Because volunteers check on meal recipients every day, people who live alone can feel safe, knowing that someone would notice if anything were to happen to them.
Top 10 Ways The Salvation Army
Is Doing the Most Good in Charlottesville
- Emergency Shelter Program - Allows 58 individuals to receive a warm bed and at least 3 meals every day, along with weekly case management in hope that clients locate employment and permanent housing.
- After-school care – Available for school aged children every day of the school year.
- The Homeless Intervention Program - Assists clients who are usually self-sufficient, but have had an illness, a family death, or some other crisis beyond their control. Last year, 72 families were able to remain in their homes thanks to this program.
- The Transitional Housing Program hosts 9 families for up to 2 years while the families prepare for self-sufficiency and possible home ownership.
- The Salvation Army provided 65,332 meals to its shelter residents, children in child care, and the public this past year.
- The Salvation Army Child Care Center - Children receive child care and pre-school education 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year at a cost of $90 per week.
- Families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless are eligible for child care services. Families who reside in the emergency shelter pay no fee for child care.
- The Emergency Services program, in crisis situations, provides food and vouchers to the thrift store for clothes and furniture. Last year, 7,885 people received these services.
- Last year, 2,872 individuals visited The Salvation Army Emergency Services program for the first time in need of food, clothing, and agency referrals.
- Last year, The Salvation Army provided 2,352 grocery orders to families who could not afford to buy food.
The Emergency Food Bank is a volunteer organization that provides a 3-day food supply to individuals and families exclusively in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area who find themselves in an emergency without food.
The organization, which made its first delivery in March of 1973, was established through the assistance and guidance of local churches and agencies. Through the years Meadows Presbyterian Church, the Catholic Church of the Incarnation and Christ Episcopal Church have given major support to the effort.
Emergency Food Bank volunteers take requests for food Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM until noon. The food is transported from the storeroom to a distribution site where it is available for pick up between 1:30 and 3:30 PM that same afternoon.
This tax-exempt organization receives no government funding. It is run solely by volunteers and its operation depends exclusively upon the generous support of area churches, schools, businesses, civic groups and individuals. As the operating expenses are minimal, more than 90% percent of monetary contributions to the Emergency Food Bank are used for food purchases.
