How Wilder Meals on Wheels increased support for Saint Paul community members during the pandemic

Demand grew with emergency pandemic funding

In March 2020, Wilder’s Meals on Wheels program shifted dramatically: participants began receiving weekly deliveries of frozen meals and regular phone calls to check on their well-being – and the volume increased. In December 2020 our volunteers packed and delivered 7,252 meals, nearly four times our pre-pandemic numbers. This increase was largely because funding was available through the CARES Act via Ramsey County Emergency Funding and continued by Metro Meals on Wheels fundraising efforts.

As vaccinations became available and summer weather made it easier to get outside, fewer community members were expressing need for meals. In June 2021, Wilder volunteers delivered 4,008 meals, nearly half of what was going out the door at our peak, but still twice our numbers pre-pandemic.

More than half of our new, larger community of meal recipients pay for their meals using temporary COVID relief funding provided by Metro Meals on Wheels, which demonstrates that there is a need in our community for prepared meals and that payment is a barrier.

Our next challenge: Finding ways to sustain Meals on Wheels for our community members

The COVID funding currently covering meal costs is tapering down and will likely end soon. Wilder staff are working on ways to support clients once funding ends. We want to avoid a return to people skipping meals and buying non-nutritious ‘cheap’ accessible foods, because that makes people ultimately less able to maintain their health and independence in the long run.

Working together, we can draw on the strengths of our community to help Meals on Wheels continue supporting our neighbors, with the long-term goal of ensuring that participants are able to maintain their desired living situations and have an improved sense of well-being and improved health.