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Meals on Wheels Starts
Originated in Great Britain during the Blitz, when many people lost their homes and therefore the ability to cook their own food. The Women's Volunteer Service for Civil Defence, provided food for these people. The concept of delivering meals to those unable to prepare their own evolved into the modern programmes that deliver mostly to the housebound elderly for free or with donation. -
Meals on Wheels expands to Australia
In Australia, Meals on Wheels started in 1952 in South Melbourne. A lady on a tricycle delivered the meals. When it became too much for her, the Red Cross took over. -
United States opens up Meals on wheels
The first home-delivered meal program in the United States began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in January 1954. At the request of the Philadelphia Health & Welfare Council, and funded by a grant from the Henrietta Tower Wurtz Foundation, Margaret Toy, a social worker in Philadelphia's Lighthouse Community Center, pioneered a program to provide nourishment that met the dietary needs of homebound seniors and other "shut-ins" in the area who otherwise would have to go hungry. -
New South Wales Opens a branch of Meals on Wheels
In March 1957 Sydney City Council started Meals on Wheels in NSW. In the first week 150 meals were cooked in the Town Hall for inner city dwellers. The cost of the meal then was two shillings, which is approximately 20 cents today. -
New York Branch
The city of Rochester, New York, began its home-delivered meal program in 1958. -
California begins opening up branches
A group of concerned women in San Diego, California recognized that isolated seniors were in need of regular meals and human contact. So, what was to become Meals-on-Wheels Greater San Diego, Inc. was born, -
Canada Branch is Born
Calgary: Meals on Wheels was formed in response to a plea from the Hospital Chaplaincy Committee of the Calgary Presbytery of the United Church. In 1965, a study was undertaken by the Presbyterian United Church Women into the needs of the elderly living alone and those being discharged from hospitals with no help available during their convalescence. -
Today's Modern meals on Wheels
There are active Meals on Wheels programs in Australia Canada the United Kingdom and the United States. The National Association of Care Catering are a great source of information on UK Meals on Wheels services. The Meals On Wheels Association of America (MOWAA) is a national association for senior nutrition programs headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, but each program operates independently.
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