Meals On Wheels Essay

When it was first established in the United Kingdom during the stressful period of the Second World War, Meals on Wheels served a very different purpose than it does today. In the modern age, it has become the leading movement to alleviate the scourge of hunger amongst seniors around the Western world. By 2050, the number of people aged above eighty years old will quadruple, mainly due to a combination of lessening birth rates and increased longevity amongst people in the developed world. Therefore, this type of charity is only bound to become more and more important as time progresses.1 I learned about their work firsthand, and tried to understand how they accomplish their mission. Meals on Wheels formed an active organization in the United
This has proven a fantastic way to eliminate unnecessary costs, and to better integrate the program into the greater community. For many of the recepients of the Meals on Wheels program, the social interaction inherent in the delivery scheme is just as important as the receipt of the meal itself, and perhaps is one of their only social outlets in life. Considering the longevity of Meals on Wheels, the utilization of volunteer labor scheme has obviously been an greatlyeffective strategy in the past. In recent times, however, as the need for the services provided by Meals on Wheels increases, the pool of potential volunteers is slowly shrinking
A combination driver-runner team has been developed to alleviate individual boredom and lonliness. The social aspect of participating in the Meals on Wheels program, from the perspective of the volunteer, has drastically decreased, with nearly 20 percent of those receiving the meals never having engaged in prolonged conversation with the one delivering the food. This is almost always attributed to the lack of desire on the part of the volunteer, leaving the recipient of the food without the social interaction which is meant to define the