Join the ‘March for Meals’
New: Get the March for Meals flyer with Y’s Men info on the back
In a new partnership between the Y Service Clubs (Y’s Men & Women) in Hawaii and Lanakila Meals on Wheels, our clubs will join the well-publicized March for Meals on March 24, starting from Honolulu Hale at 10 a.m.
Events will include a march to the State Capitol, 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., followed by a Kupuna Care Rally at the Capitol 11 a.m. to noon.
We can wear our club shirts and make known our own role in service to our communities. Last year there were about 300 participants in the March, led by Mayor Mufi Hannemann, and Lanakila hopes for more marchers this year and an overall bigger impact because of the addition of the kupuna rally.
Officially “Lanakila Meals on Wheels and More!” the organization provides some 250,000 nutritionally balanced meals a year on Oahu, about two-thirds of them home-delivered to seniors all over Oahu.
This prevents hunger among needy seniors and helps keep them in their own homes without the need for institutionalization.
We won’t be able to make donations at the March itself but the Metropolitan District of Y’s Men Hawaii, representing our six clubs on Hawaii, has voted to make this an official community service project and will accept your donations so they can be pooled and presented on behalf of Y’s Men and Women. See how to make a donation.
Every dollar helps. (See below: Why Meals on Wheels is So Important.)
Other forms of donations are welcome, too, such as toiletries and other gift items. We can provide other services, such as volunteering to deliver hot meals to at-home seniors or volunteering at Lanakila’s Kupuna Wellness Centers in our communities. As a start, we have committed to joining this year’s Honolulu March for Meals. We’ll carry signs (provided by Lanakila) to promote awareness of the plight of our hungry seniors.
Neighbor Island clubs please note: While this event is on Oahu and your own communities don’t have Meals on Wheels programs, they do have equivalents in some areas. You can of course offer financial help for the seniors on Oahu but you can also check with your county governments to see what opportunities there are to contribute to feeding needy seniors. This page will carry information on opportunities as soon as it can be gathered.
The Y’s Men Hawaii Region got involved at the initiative of Ray Seto (Kaimuki). It’s right in line with a new movement by Y Service Clubs International to become more cause-driven. Hunger is an easily identifiable cause we can all get behind.
Ray brought Regional Director Rick Lau, Regional Director Elect Russ Lynch and U.S. Area President Phil Sammer (Central) to Lanakila headquarters in November and they immediately saw the opportunity for more community service by our clubs.
Phil and Russ then took the idea to a Regional Director Elect training session in Torrance, Calif., and RDEs from all over the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean quickly adopted the idea as a national cause.
The Hawaii Region’s contact for all this is RDE Russ, russlynch@mac.com (808-261-2126). Stay tuned to this page for more information.
Check out the Lanakila Meals on Wheels web pages.
March for Meals, in some places called Mayors for Meals because of the involvement of top civic leaders, is part of a national program of the Meals on Wheels Association of America, of which Lanakila is a member. To learn more about this organization go the MOWAA site.
Note: $38.75 will feed a senior at his or her home for a week. A month of meals costs $155. And sponsorship of one senior for a whole year costs $1,937.50.
Why Meals on Wheels is so Important
• By the year 2020, one out of every four people in Hawaii will be 60 years and older.
• Of our frail sick and homebound seniors, only 46% reported getting out of their home at least once a week.
• Nearly 1 in 3 residents of Hawaii over the age of 60 are trying to make ends meet on an annual income that is below $10,000
• The average meals on wheels recipient is female, 85 years of age, and subsists on an income of less than $10,000 a year.
• Providing meals to seniors, which enables them to stay in their homes and avoid costly institutionalization, can be the difference between $38.75 for a week of home delivered meals vs. $470 for a week of institutionalization.
• Seniors living in rural areas are more socially isolated, so are more impacted by hunger issues because of a limited amount of grocery stores or take-out counters within walking distance in their districts.