Meals On Wheels South Florida Receives Grant From Meals On Wheels America And PetSmart Charities®
Funding Will Assist Efforts to Keep South Florida Seniors and Their Pets Together Amid the Pandemic and Beyond.
- (1888PressRelease) February 06, 2021 - Meals on Wheels South Florida is proud to announce that it has received a $4,000 emergency pet food grant through a partnership between Meals on Wheels America and PetSmart Charities®. Funding will be used to meet an increased demand for Meals on Wheels South Florida’s pet-related services and overcome infrastructure challenges amid COVID-19.
“Now more than ever our seniors rely on us for nutritious meals, safety checks, and companionship to keep them safe in their homes,” says Mark Adler, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels South Florida. “One-in-four seniors live alone, often with a pet as their only source of comfort, and the services we provide to their companion animals are extremely important in keeping them together, particularly during these difficult times.”
Amid stay-at-home guidance and other health and safety measures in place to protect against COVID-19, millions more older adults are experiencing the impacts of loneliness and diminished social connection. While pet ownership is known to lower instances of illness and reported feelings of loneliness among older adults and is particularly crucial during this challenging time, many face difficulties with procuring groceries, like pet food and supplies, on their own.
“As so many older adults became homebound practically overnight in the face of the pandemic, they also became shut off from critical social connections,” said Ellie Hollander, President and CEO, Meals on Wheels America. “Meals on Wheels programs have been working around the clock to serve an influx of seniors in need of support over the past ten months, which includes preserving the proven powerful relationships they have with their pets. This generous funding from PetSmart Charities makes that possible.”
About Meals on Wheels South Florida
Meals on Wheels South Florida is a private nonprofit organization providing hunger-relief services since 1984. With the dedication of nearly 500 volunteers, Meals on Wheels South Florida delivers nutritious meals, friendly visits and safety checks that enable South Florida seniors to live nourished lives with independence and dignity. Meals on Wheels South Florida serves more than 10,000 seniors and 5,000 children an estimated 1.5 million meals each year. Included in their comprehensive list of programs and services are home meal delivery, community-based dining, meals for companion pets, grocery shopping assistance, nutrition education and emergency meals. For more information, please call 954.731.8770 or visit mowsoflo.org
Meals on Wheels South Florida Funding Statement
Meals on Wheels South Florida is funded under the Older Americans Act and Fair Share Dollars from local municipalities through the State of Florida's Department of Elder Affairs and The Area Agency on Aging of Broward County. The generous support from The Jim Moran Foundation, Jewish Federation of Broward, United Way of Broward, the Children's Services Council, the cities of Tamarac and Pompano and Private Donations allows us to provide meals and services to those in most immediate need who would otherwise be placed on the ever-growing waiting list for home-delivered meals.
About Meals on Wheels America
Meals on Wheels America is the leadership organization supporting the more than 5,000 community-based programs across the country that are dedicated to addressing senior isolation and hunger. This network serves virtually every community in America and, along with more than two million staff and volunteers, delivers the nutritious meals, friendly visits and safety checks that enable America’s seniors to live nourished lives with independence and dignity. By providing funding, leadership, education, research and advocacy support, Meals on Wheels America empowers its local member programs to strengthen their communities, one senior at a time. For more information, or to find a Meals on Wheels provider near you, visit www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org.
About PetSmart Charities®
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is committed to finding lifelong, loving homes for all pets by supporting programs and thought leadership that bring people and pets together. Through its in-store adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, PetSmart Charities helps to find forever homes and families for more than 600,000 shelter pets each year. Each year, millions of generous PetSmart shoppers help pets in need by donating to PetSmart Charities using the PIN pads at checkout registers inside PetSmart stores. In turn, PetSmart Charities efficiently uses more than 90 cents of every dollar donated to fulfill its role as the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, granting almost $430 million since its inception in 1994. Independent from PetSmart Inc., PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization that has received the Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator, a third-party organization that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, for the past 17 years in a row – placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization. To learn more visit www.petsmartcharities.org.
###
space
space
Satisfied Users & 
Approved Press Releases
Print
Email
Report Spam