Meals on Wheels Carson City, operated by the Carson City Senior Center, announced that its recent Carson Follies fundraiser held the weekend of August 15 raised over $10,000, more than double last year’s efforts.
The show’s success was from monetary donations, raffle prize donations, in-kind donations, and support from local businesses, organizations and the community.
“The outpouring of support from our community shows how important Meals on Wheels is to Carson City,” stated Toni Van Cleave, director of the Carson Follies. “We spent months rehearsing, asking businesses for raffle prize donations, and spreading the word on the show. To have this amount of money raised for Meals on Wheels warms my heart.”
Meals on Wheels provides Carson City senior residents with a vital lifeline — a warm meal, a friendly visitor to check in on their well-being, and access to other services to help them remain healthy and independent at home. “I’m handicapped, and it’s too hard for me to stand and fix a meal! If I do cook one, after I finish, I’m either too tired or feel sick to my stomach, so I don’t eat,” stated a Meals on Wheels participant. “The drivers are a ray of sunshine.”
Meals on Wheels is on track to deliver over 100,000 meals this year. The team of six delivery drivers heads out on four routes, five days a week, to make their deliveries. The program is largely funded by grants; however, the cost to deliver one meal is twice the amount the program is reimbursed for. To provide the meals, the program must fund this per-meal difference through fundraisers, charitable donations, and gifts from the community and businesses.
The costs to prepare and deliver meals are on the rise, and an increase in demand for meals has caused the program to activate a waitlist. “Our waitlist is growing, and it is so hard to tell someone they need to wait to receive a meal,” said Courtney Warner, Executive Director of the Carson City Senior Center.
For more information on how you can contribute, visit www.carsoncityseniorcenter.org, call (775) 883-0703, or mail to Carson City Senior Center, 911 Beverly Drive, Carson City, NV 89706.
