Tomball Magnolia Potpourri - News
Much-needed grant for Montgomery County meals program awarded
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| From left, Montgomery County Meals-on-Wheels staff member George Clawson and volunteer Paula Shepherd prepare for a daily delivery of a hot noon meals. Almost 200 volunteers work Monday through Friday, rain or shine, to deliver five to seven meals each week to home-bound residents of the county. The Friendship Center received notice of a $122,219 grant from the Texas Department of Agriculture for their home-delivered meal program on Jan. 5. |
As baby boomers age, a growing number of Montgomery County residents find themselves confined to their homes through illness or disability. Requests for Meals-On-Wheels have skyrocketed, and The Friendship Center president, Nancy Harrington, has worried how the agency will afford to provide services to increased requests of almost 40 percent over the past year including 39 Magnolia area residents.
Her prayers were answered Jan. 5 when she received word that the Texas Department of Agriculture was awarding funding of $122,219 to The Friendship Center’s Meals-On-Wheels program through TDA’s Home-Delivered Meal grant program.
“This news really came at a crucial time,” she said. “We added more than 100 people to our MOW participant list this past year, and with food prices going up, we knew we were going to need divine intervention to meet this growing need here in our community.”
Funding for the MOW program comes from a number of sources, but the primary grant programs have been United Way, the Houston-Galveston Area Council Area Agency on Aging, and Montgomery County, including funding from the Community Development Block Grant program. However, funding allocations from those programs have not been able to expand at the rate that the home-bound population has grown, Harrington said.
“Success with grant programs like this one require a collaborative effort,” she said. “We were fortunate to have friends in the community watching for grants like this one and making sure I was aware of the funding opportunity.”
Harrington said the MOW program garnered letters of support from state legislators who represent Montgomery County along with a Commissioners Court resolution acknowledging the value of the program.
“All of this combined to spell success in obtaining funding to help those seniors who truly need our support,” she said.
Harrington pointed out that the MOW program not only provides nutrition for medically fragile senior adults, it also provides a warm heart and a caring smile from the MOW volunteer who go to the seniors’ doors.
“I was amazed to learn that our program is one of the last in our region that is almost totally volunteer-operated,” she said. “Due to the lack of available volunteer help so many of the other MOW programs require staff to deliver a majority of their meals to seniors.”
In Montgomery County almost 200 MOW volunteers combine to serve over 400 senior adults with noonday meals either five or seven days each week.
The Home-Delivered Meal Grant Program is only in its second year at the Department of Agriculture, and Harrington is hopeful that during this current legislative session, state senators and representatives will ensure funding will continue to be available in the future.
In addition to the MOW program, the agency offers a transportation program; daily activities and a hot noon meal in one of six centers throughout Montgomery County including the West County Community Development Center on Friendship Drive in Magnolia which serves 120 hot meals a week to local residents. Other services include a food pantry; case management services; and special projects such as assistance for seniors suffering home damage from Hurricane Ike, or help in building wheelchair ramps.
For more information about The Friendship Center’s Meals-On-Wheels program, or other services provided by the agency, call 936-756-5828 or visit the agency’s web site at www.thefriendshipcenter.com.
Her prayers were answered Jan. 5 when she received word that the Texas Department of Agriculture was awarding funding of $122,219 to The Friendship Center’s Meals-On-Wheels program through TDA’s Home-Delivered Meal grant program.
“This news really came at a crucial time,” she said. “We added more than 100 people to our MOW participant list this past year, and with food prices going up, we knew we were going to need divine intervention to meet this growing need here in our community.”
Funding for the MOW program comes from a number of sources, but the primary grant programs have been United Way, the Houston-Galveston Area Council Area Agency on Aging, and Montgomery County, including funding from the Community Development Block Grant program. However, funding allocations from those programs have not been able to expand at the rate that the home-bound population has grown, Harrington said.
“Success with grant programs like this one require a collaborative effort,” she said. “We were fortunate to have friends in the community watching for grants like this one and making sure I was aware of the funding opportunity.”
Harrington said the MOW program garnered letters of support from state legislators who represent Montgomery County along with a Commissioners Court resolution acknowledging the value of the program.
“All of this combined to spell success in obtaining funding to help those seniors who truly need our support,” she said.
Harrington pointed out that the MOW program not only provides nutrition for medically fragile senior adults, it also provides a warm heart and a caring smile from the MOW volunteer who go to the seniors’ doors.
“I was amazed to learn that our program is one of the last in our region that is almost totally volunteer-operated,” she said. “Due to the lack of available volunteer help so many of the other MOW programs require staff to deliver a majority of their meals to seniors.”
In Montgomery County almost 200 MOW volunteers combine to serve over 400 senior adults with noonday meals either five or seven days each week.
The Home-Delivered Meal Grant Program is only in its second year at the Department of Agriculture, and Harrington is hopeful that during this current legislative session, state senators and representatives will ensure funding will continue to be available in the future.
In addition to the MOW program, the agency offers a transportation program; daily activities and a hot noon meal in one of six centers throughout Montgomery County including the West County Community Development Center on Friendship Drive in Magnolia which serves 120 hot meals a week to local residents. Other services include a food pantry; case management services; and special projects such as assistance for seniors suffering home damage from Hurricane Ike, or help in building wheelchair ramps.
For more information about The Friendship Center’s Meals-On-Wheels program, or other services provided by the agency, call 936-756-5828 or visit the agency’s web site at www.thefriendshipcenter.com.
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