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10 Ways to Help in 2010
Volunteer
with your company, club, or friends
to deliver meals in your neighborhood,
provide event support and more.
Organize your own fundraiser
for Lanakila Meals on Wheels.
All designated monies go directly to providing
meals and support for seniors in need.
Adopt a Kupuna Wellness Center
We also run 19 Kupuna Wellness Centers on Oahu. Each is a senior support center offering community, services, and a hot lunch.
Rally neighbors and businesses to commit
to the Kupuna Wellness Center in your area, make it a place that reminds our kupuna how much we value them.
Sponsor-A-Senior
You can sponsor a homebound senior
or sponsor a senior at a Kupuna Wellness
Center for a week, month or year.
Contributions in any amount make a difference.
Make a donation of basic necessities
like toilettries, paper products, and cleaning supplies - we distribute these necessities when they are donated, directly to seniors.
Support legislation and programs
that help seniors preserve
their independence with dignity.
Planning a meeting, party or event?
Visit Xpress Chefs at xpresschefs.com
or call 533-3054 for customized menus,
delivery service,and tasty, healthy options.
Proceeds support Lanakila Meals on Wheels.
Need silkscreening, packaging,
grounds or custodial services?
Contact Lanakila’s Social Enterprises
at 531-0555. Proceeds support
Lanakila Pacific’s programs
including Lanakila Meals on Wheels.
Need leis or a healthy meal plan
for yourself or a loved one?
Contact Lanakila Meals on Wheels at 531-0555 to learn more about our leis available,
handmade by seniors in our programs,
or how you can get your choice of meal plan conveniently delivered to your door each week.
Reach out to a senior
that you know who may be needing help.
Make sure they have a network of support.
Look out for them and connect them
with senior support services.
For more information,
please contact us at 531-0555.
Mahalo!
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Lanakila Meals on Wheels: On the Front Lines of a Hunger Crisis
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Who are our heroes?
 Our kupuna who have spent decades helping to shape the best of our community.
And the people who spend two hours every week picking up freshly made and hand-packed meals from our Bachelot Street facility in Liliha, bringing them to the tables of our kupuna who can no longer grocery shop or cook for themselves.
Here are mini videos about our seniors, volunteers and Lanakila Meals on Wheels program. And an in depth look at the crisis:
Why your support so important.
It is heartbreaking. The stories.
Staff at Lanakila Meals on Wheels have several times in the last year made emergency deliveries to a senior who called in that morning, to finally reach out for help after not eating for several days.
The epidemic of senior hunger is a growing issue we can no longer deny. Both research studies and people in the community have been warning us to start preparing for the past decade.
Below are some compelling facts that give a glimpse of where we are and what we need to do.
Did you know?
- By the year 2020, one out of every four people in Hawaii will be 60 years and older.
- Of our frail sick and homebound seniors, only 46% reported getting out of their home at least once a week.
- Nearly 1 in 3 residents of Hawaii over the age of 60 are trying to make ends meet on an annual income that is below $10,000
- The average meals on wheels recipient is female, 85 years of age, and subsists on an income of less than $10,000 a year.
- Providing meals to seniors, which enables them to stay in their homes and avoid costly institutionalization, can be the difference between $37.50 for a week of home delivered meals vs. $470 for a week of institutionalization.
- Seniors living in rural areas are more socially isolated, so are more impacted by hunger issues because of a limited amount of grocery stores or take-out counters within walking distance in their districts.
About Us
Lanakila’s Meals on Wheels is Hawaii’s largest and only island-wide meal provider for seniors, serving over 250,000 meals for seniors in need each year.
Lanakila Meals on Wheels is a program of Lanakila Pacific, a unique Hawaii-based non-profit. What makes Lanakila Meals on Wheels especially unique is that our program also provides food service training for people with disabilities in the preparation of meals for seniors.
Delivering more than a nutritious meal, the Lanakila Meals on Wheels’ volunteer may be a senior’s only personal contact each day. We provide nutrition education and counseling, monitor health and welfare, and serve as an important bridge to other service providers, helping seniors remain in their own homes, preventing than more costly institutionalization.
The Crisis
Unfortunately, the number of seniors requesting services from Lanakila Meals on Wheels exceeds current funding, and we continue to get calls every day from seniors needing assistance.
When seniors contact us for meals, they are often hesitant or refuse to leave their name for the waiting list. However, The City & County of Honolulu’s Elderly Affairs Division 4-year plan (2007-2011) indicates that the unmet need for home delivered meals is 8,587 seniors.
It is a heartbreaking problem. But one that we can solve with your support.
Mahalo for making a difference! |
