Poverty Among the Elderly: Our Changing Community

Photo: Meals on Wheels London

Written by Chad Callander, Meals on Wheels London

Meals on Wheels London continues to meet the needs of our changing community. Meals on Wheels London is available to anyone who needs support of food and transportation services as part of their individual healthcare plan. Anyone who is 18+ with a disability or 55+ can access service. However, our crisis/compassionate program is available to anyone that calls us and explains their situation which requires support. This can be caregivers, advocates or the individuals themselves.

We are also available to other community organizations who wish to utilize service to serve their populations. This could be the use of daily meal programs to serve as part of their everyday programming or frozen meals for distribution to individuals transitioning to housing. We encourage anyone who has questions to give us a call!

In the last few years, the number of individuals requiring our support has increased. It could be easy to say that this is because of an aging population, but this is just one small contributing factor. The biggest increase has been due to rising costs that are not in line with the income of older adults and those with disabilities. Our organization sees this through the rise in individuals accessing subsidy to afford their meals and transportation rides.

Meals on Wheels London partners with the London Food Bank in the delivery of the food box program. Like many organizations we partner with the London Food Bank to ensure that populations we work with are getting access to the resources they need. Our staff and volunteers deliver food boxes each month to those who physically cannot get to the food bank for their monthly allotment. In just a few years the number of food boxes being delivered each year has reached almost 1000 annually.

The increase in those accessing subsidy and the deliveries of food boxes, is a clear indication that many people in our community are facing barriers due to being or falling into poverty. Our organization advocates for these individuals because many are not seen due to being homebound or faced with limited mobility. It is our responsibility to give them a voice and why organizations like ours and the London Food Bank continue to need community support.

To address these barriers, we must ensure that seniors and those with disabilities have the community supports they need. This could be service but also the proper income supports to provide for their livelihood. It is checking in on our friends, family and neighbors to see how they’re doing and how we can best support them.

I know London is a great community with compassion and care for all, lets show it to those who need us most!