Detroit Holiday Meals On Wheels volunteers prep for Thanksgiving Day Del...

Detroit Area Agency on Aging Holiday Cards Provide Meals for Seniors

It Takes a Village: On Thanksgiving Day 

volunteers from age 8 to 80 Stand Ready to Help

Hunger takes no holiday, that’s why the Detroit Area Agency on Aging (DAAA) sells cards to deliver a complete freshly-prepared hot nutritious meal to seniors on holidays.

The Holiday Meals on Wheels Card campaign allows people to purchase a greeting card for $5, the cost of one meal. 

Each card will be inserted into a delivered meal with the donator’s signature and message.

With the help of corporate sponsors, the community and DAAA employees – thousands of dollars are raised to purchase the meals for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and Labor Day each year. Donations also come from the Holiday Meals on Wheels Card campaign. 

The federally-funded Meals on Wheels program provides meals to homebound seniors in Detroit, the five Grosse Pointes, Harper Woods, Hamtramck and Highland Park - but meals are not provided on holidays and weekends.

“The Detroit Meals on Wheels is a needed service providing nutritious meals to homebound seniors – especially during the holidays,” said Paul Bridgewater, president/CEO of Detroit Area Agency on Aging.  “But more than the meal, the  program is a connection for a homebound senior to the outside world – demonstrating the true holiday spirit. When the hot meal is delivered on Thanksgiving by the volunteer, that gives our seniors contact with another person on the holiday that really lets them know that someone cares.” 

The holiday meals are prepared by Valley Services, a national food services company, in their USDA-certified kitchen at 1980 Bagley Street at Rosa Parks Boulevard in Detroit. Valley Services has partnered with DAAA for more than a decade.

Hundreds of volunteers will assist in preparing and delivering 5,950 meals this Thanksgiving. From 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., volunteers will package the hot food portion of the meal for distribution to ten community sites where delivery of individual meals start at 8:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning.

For more information on how to purchase the holiday cards, volunteer or just make a donation, call The Detroit Area Agency on Aging at (313) 446-4444 or visit www.daaa1a.org. 

To purchase Holiday cards, you can also visit us at Eastern Market on Saturdays, Shed #3 until Christmas.

"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse." - Henry Van Dyke

 

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Paul Bridgewater – Preisdent & CEO, Detroit Area Agency on Aging