Club gives $20,000 to Meals on Wheels Orange County

By Tim Kelsey

SB Recreation Manager

The city of Seal Beach operates a meal program for seniors at the North Seal Beach Community Center through partnership with Meals on Wheels Orange County. The program offers home-delivered meals for residents who are in need of meal delivery. The program also consists of congregate meals available for seniors on-site at the North Seal Beach Center. All meals provided through this program meet federal standards for nutrition and are free to residents.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in March, the City of Seal Beach and Meals on Wheels were required to make changes to continue to provide meals.

The primary change was to cancel all congregate meals at the community center. These meals were transitioned to a delivered frozen meal program that was delivered by city staff weekly.

As a result of the stay at home order, many residents did not access to food. Meal deliveries increased from roughly 30 meals to over 200 meals. Roughly 120 Leisure World residents are receiving meals weekly through this program. This program was only able to be sustained through the support of community and groups such as the Golden Age Foundation.

In April, GAF made a generous donation of $20,000 to Meals on Wheels Orange County to support meals to Leisure World residents. Through this donation the city and Meals on Wheels Orange County were able to deliver 8,377 meals between May 1-June 30.

As the impacts of COVID-19 continue to be felt by residents throughout California, the GAF has once again stepped forward to make an additional donation of $20,000 to continue to support the necessary program and make it available for all Leisure World residents.

The City of Seal Beach and Meals on Wheels OC estimate this will purchase an additional 4,500 meals for Leisure World residents. The City of Seal Beach and Meals on Wheels Orange County are very appreciative and fortunate for the support they have received from the GAF.