Citymeals on Wheels
Organization background

Founded in 1981, Citymeals on Wheels (Citymeals) began as a grassroots effort to bring holiday meals to New York City's older homebound residents, who could go up to four days in a row without a meal when City-funded delivery services were closed.

Currently, Citymeals provides meals across all five boroughs of New York City, working in partnership with New York City's Department for the Aging (DFTA) and 30 community-based meal delivery centers. DFTA funds meals Monday through Friday, while Citymeals delivers on weekends, holidays, and during emergencies, ensuring that meal recipients have food every day of the week. Citymeals also serve as the City's emergency response provider of meals, delivering non-perishable meals to New Yorkers aged 60+ when emergencies reduce access to food.

Project background

Research has shown that homebound older adults, who are generally lower income, suffer from social isolation, physical, mental, & cognitive health challenges; are at higher risks of malnutrition and poor health; and have substantially higher rates of mortality compared to older adults who are not homebound. They struggle to access nutritious food because they are unable to leave their homes and shop for food; they can’t access technology to order groceries online; they can’t prepare meals for themselves, and they struggle to afford food.

Citymeals tries to alleviate their problems by home delivering food to homebound seniors. Citymeals' core programs include:

GKF contributions to Citymeals