MEALS ON WHEELS FOR FORT COLLINS COLORADO INC

GOAL #1: To deliver hot, nutritious meals to all eligible clients Monday-Friday
A. Maintain our partnership with PVH.
B. Deliver meals by using the best equipment possible to hold and transport meals to client's homes, ensuring food safety
C. Recruit and train sufficient number of volunteers to maintain high levels of efficiency in delivering meals in the optimal time allotted

GOAL #2: To provide each recipient with some form of daily social contact, either directly with the volunteer or indirectly via phone call from staff, Monday-Friday
A. Recruit and train sufficient number of volunteers and maintain adequate staff to ensure office phones and messages are returned in a timely manner
B. Train all volunteers and staff in the processes that ensure all clients are treated with respect by caring individuals upon delivery of meal and contact by phone

GOAL #3: To help homebound adults with limitations in ability to access or prepare their own meals remain in their own homes and have a sense of improved quality of life as a result
A. Perform objectives under Goals #1 and #2
B. Perform assessments and measurements to track progress in meeting this goal
1. Client satisfaction surveys – qualitative responses regarding outlook on quality of life
2. Client tracking surveys – quantitative data regarding number of clients able to remain at home

This program will accomplish our first objective, delivering hot, nutritious meals to all eligible clients Monday-Friday, by maintaining our partnership with Poudre Valley Hospital to prepare the meals, by delivering meals by using the best equipment possible to hold and transport meals to client's homes to ensure food safety and by recruiting and training sufficient number of volunteers to maintain high levels of efficiency in delivering meals in the optimal time allotted.

Our second objective, providing each recipient with some form of daily social contact, either directly with the volunteer or indirectly via phone call from staff, Monday-Friday, will be accomplished by recruiting and training a sufficient number of volunteers and maintain adequate staff to ensure office phones and messages are returned in a timely manner and by training all volunteers and staff in the processes that ensure all clients are treated with respect by caring individuals upon delivery of meal and contact by phone.

The third objective of our program is to help homebound adults with limitations in ability to access or prepare their own meals remain in their own homes and have a sense of improved quality of life as a result. We will accomplish this by providing a high quality service that gives eligible clients a hot, nutritious meal and a daily wellness check as well as by performing assessments and measurements to track progress in meeting this objective. Tracking tactics include extensive client surveys conducted by interns that personally visit each client.

Our collaborations with various entities are key to expanding our capabilities in order to reach more people. Our long-standing partnership with Poudre Valley Hospital is the most critical partnership to our program. Dietetic staff at PVH provide all the nutrient analysis, menu planning, and meal preparation for MOWFC. Not only have they offered this service to us since 1971, but they also provide a substantial in-kind donation that subsidizes the cost of our meals, enabling us to keep our fees low.
MOWFC has several relationships with organizations in the community that supply us with a steady stream of volunteers. These organizations include: Foothills Gateway, Good Shepherd Communities, Poudre High School Community Connections program, and Colorado State University (CSU). CSU's Nutrition Department and Human Development & Family Studies Department have provided our program with numerous student interns with heart and passion for what we do.

Our small agency accomplishes so much with each and every meal that is delivered. In fiscal year 2023-2024, MOWFC delivered 67,750 meals to 535unique clients. PVH's generous assistance in carrying out our program brings the highest quality nutritional and food safety content to our meals, further benefiting our clients. All meals meet more than 1/2 of the USDA Recommended Daily Allowances, consist of a hot and cold portion, and are heat sealed to ensure they are sanitary, fresh and hot upon delivery. Each delivery is made with compassion and care for our clients, engaging them in conversation that may be the only human contact they have for the day.

Each year we conduct and in home survey with the help of Colorado State University Dietetic Interns of most of our clients to measure our progress towards meeting their needs. By and large, our clients and their caregivers have overwhelmingly positive feedback.

• 70 % of survey respondents answered YES when asked if our service helps them to remain living independently in their homes;
• 79 % of survey respondents answered YES when asked if our service helped improve their diet after receiving our meals for 6 months;
• 49 % of survey respondents answered YES when asked if they have an increase in positive feelings about their well-being and security in their homes.

Overwhelming response from clients is that despite their limitations in ability to access or prepare their own meals, they are able to remain in their own homes and have a sense of improved quality of life as a result. As our program is ongoing, clients can continue receiving meals as long as their personal situation is improved by receiving meals. We have had clients receive meals for as long as 10+ years or as little as one week depending on their needs. For over 55 years, our services have impacted not only the homebound adults we serve, but their family and caregivers as well. Our services provide peace of mind for many working adults trying to help an aging parent remain independent, knowing that their loved one will receive both a wellness check and nutritious meal each week-day. The end result for the adult children of our clients is improved focus, performance and attendance needed to maintain employment.