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Grant from Walmart Foundation and Meals On Wheels Association of America to Feed More Seniors in Los Angeles
Grant money aids local Meals On Wheels in preparing to meet needs of hungry seniors in the future
August 16, Los Angeles – A grant of $100,000 from the Walmart Foundation and the Meals On Wheels Association of America (MOWAA) will provide St. Vincent Meals on Wheels with the ability to launch a multimedia campaign to engage a new and younger following in the Los Angeles area. The Walmart Foundation-MOWAA Building the Future Vision Grant will enable St. Vincent Meals on Wheels to expand its nutrition and meal services as the demand for services grow and preferences of senior clients change.
The grant will improve the long-term operations of St. Vincent Meals on Wheels and nineteen other Meals On Wheels programs across the country. This financial support is desperately needed as many Meals On Wheels programs continue to struggle with skyrocketing gasoline costs and rising food prices during the nation’s economic downturn.
“Thanks to the MOWAA-Walmart Foundation Building the Future Vision Grant, we now have the financial support needed to expend our services and feed more of our community’s seniors” said Sr. Alice Marie Quinn, Executive Director of St. Vincent Meals on Wheels. “This grant is essential in further developing our philanthropic food truck, Cart for a Cause and beginning new efforts to secure our next generation of donors. These new and younger donors will help us now and into the future, maintain our services, continue operating without a waiting list and prepare for an increasing senior population.”
Earlier this year, the Walmart Foundation announced a $5 million donation to MOWAA as part of a $2 billion commitment to support hunger relief efforts through 2015. It is the largest donation ever made to MOWAA by a corporate partner. More than $1 million of that $5 million donation will fund Vision Grants of up to $100,000 to 20 MOWAA Member programs. An additional $1.4 million from the Walmart Foundation donation was recently awarded to almost 100 MOWAA Member programs as Impact Grants of up to $20,000 to purchase stoves, refrigerators, trucks and other items that are critical to help serve seniors in need. The $2.4 million for the Building the Future Grants Program is the largest grant amount that MOWAA has ever distributed to its Member programs.
“The Walmart Foundation continues to step up to the plate in the fight against senior hunger,” said Enid Borden, President and CEO of MOWAA. “They understand that joining Meals On Wheels in this battle is a moral imperative. The Walmart Foundation’s generous support helps ensure our programs sustain meal services well into the future. We can’t thank the Walmart Foundation enough for being such a powerful partner in our mission to end senior hunger in America by the year 2020.”
“We know that seniors are among those hardest hit by hunger in this country. Many are home-bound, and rely on neighbors and community volunteer programs like Meals on Wheels to help put food on the table,” said Julie Gehrki, senior director at the Walmart Foundation. “Through this $5 million grant, we hope to bring additional attention to senior hunger and help ensure our parents, grandparents and friends who have added so much to our lives have access to healthy and nutritious food.”
Research sponsored by MOWAA reveals that more than six million seniors in America face the threat of hunger. The Walmart Foundation-MOWAA “Building the Future” Grant Program is intended to help combat senior hunger in America.
**Click to view a list of MOWAA Member programs receiving Vision Grants and Impact Grants**
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The mission of the St. Vincent Senior Citizen Nutrition Program is to prepare and deliver well-balanced, nutritious meals to homebound elderly and other vulnerable residents within a 43-square-mile target area of Los Angeles.
Equally important are the preventive goals of heading off the degenerative processes brought on by malnutrition, and of enabling seniors and others to remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible.
Most program participants are too frail, or too ill to shop and prepare food, while others are disabled or suffering from debilitating disease. We are especially committed to meeting the needs of the indigent and partially indigent. The St. Vincent Senior Citizen Nutrition Program serves anyone in need, regardless of age, illness, disability, race, or religion.
This mission has not changed since the program’s inception in 1977.
About Philanthropy at Walmart
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are proud to support initiatives that are helping people live better around the globe. In May 2010, Walmart and its Foundation made a historic pledge of $2 billion through 2015 to fight hunger in the U.S. The Walmart Foundation also supports education, workforce development, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness initiatives. To learn more, visit www.walmartfoundation.org.
In mid-July, MOWAA awarded over $1 million in grants to 20 Member Meals On Wheels programs, thanks to the generosity of the Walmart Foundation. These are the largest grants offered in MOWAA history and were made available through the Walmart Foundation-MOWAA Building the Future Vision Grant Program.
Vision Grants are designed to provide funding up to $100,000 to selected programs to assist in developing visionary advancements that will help end senior hunger. Three of the 20 programs received the highest grant award – $100,000 (summaries of their grant proposals are below). Seventeen other programs (listed below) received grants of $15,000 to $50,000.
Top Vision Grantees
St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, Los Angeles, CA
St. Vincent Meals on Wheels received $100,000 to develop an extensive multimedia campaign to engage a new and younger following in the Los Angeles, CA, area. Currently, the program delivers nearly 5,000 meals a day and runs entirely on private donations. In order to maintain its services, continue operating without a waiting list and prepare for an increasing senior population, the program seeks to further develop its philanthropic food truck, Cart For A Cause – run entirely by local celebrity chefs and volunteers – and to implement new initiatives to secure the next generation of loyal Meals On Wheels supporters in Los Angeles.
Tuesday, November 9 our friend Ed Choi from PUMA and his staff were guest bartenders at Whiskey Blue - with tip proceeds benefitting no other than St. Vincent Meals on Wheels!
Fashion Night Out on Rodeo Drive was a huge success. We had the talented Chef Alex Becker back from Nobu West. We sold out in the first two hours! Apologies to those of you who didn't get there till 9:00pm. Come early next year!
http://rodeodrive-bh.com/fashionsnightout.html
Other News:
Last month was a fun month for Cart for a Cause, having Chef Michael Fiorelli of Mar'sel on board from the beautiful Terranea Resort. He made a BBQ beef bahn mi with house pickled vegetables and chile aioli. His vegetarian option was a Crispy Roasted Eggplant cake with marinated vegetables and aged provolone that made the meat lovers consider changing sides.
He was followed up by Chef Brandon Boudet of Dominicks and Little Dom's with whom we broke a record of meals sold during our Century City visit. We are all still blown away that Chef Boudet was able to create 200 meals from the 120 we asked him to supply with ample size portions to boot! I wanted to get the Saba Glazed Beef Brisket with Tuscan Kale on Toasted Ciabatta, but it I was customer 201 so was left with the Baby Heirloom and Burrata Cheese Bruschetta......I was not disappointed one bit, the tomatoes were so fresh and the burrata melted over top the still warm and toasty ciabatta.
We were also asked to attend the first ever OC Foodie Fest where Chef Deborah Schnieder of SOL Cocina was our guest chef. For $5 guests enjoyed Chef Deb's Carnitas SOL (street tacos with carnitas, tomatillo salsa, chicharron and avocado), as well as Ceviche SOL. Each meal was served with FIJI Water, POM tea or POM Juice and a Miss Lilly's cookie. Chef Schneider has always wanted her own truck so was very happy to be on board even if only for a day.
http://www.ocfoodiefest.com/2010/08/02/cart-for-a-cause-guest-chef-revealed/
One of our sponsors Simplehuman asked us to cater their beach clean up day and we were able to work once again with Chef Jean Francois Meteigner of La Cachette Bistro and he prepared his turkey meatloaf in a red sauce with mashed potatoes and a salmon salad. We look forward to catering many more events such as these.
This month we are lucky to have Chef Nicolas Peter of The Little Door with us for the entire month. He will be serving up a French dip with a horseradish mustard sauce and french fries as well as a Falafel sandwich with hummus tzatziki and moroccan greens, and a quinoa salad. If any of you are able to make it this month, I guarantee satisfaction. I had the french dip. The bread was perfect and the fries were the best I have had in a long time and these were served from a truck! I am attaching his bio and recipe card for tzatziki sauce.
http://www.thelittledoor.com/mediaroom/
Thank-you all for your continued support!
Cart For A Cause on NBC Los Angeles Feast
See what diners had to say at CART FOR A CAUSE.
http://blog.doozycards.com/
http://foodmarathon.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/cart-for-a-cause-animal/
Click here for more information
St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, LA, CA, Hits the Road with Cart For A Cause
In August, 2011, MOWAA awarded 20 Member programs, in total, more than $1 million through the Walmart Foundation-MOWAA Building the Future Vision Grant Program.
St. Vincent Meals on Wheels was one of the recipients of this award, and since receiving it, further developed its Cart For A Cause initiative. This unique program benefits homebound Los Angeles seniors by raising money through selling gourmet meals prepared by top celebrity chefs. See firsthand their extraordinary work below. To learn more, visit Cart For A Cause on Facebook!
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