Meals On Wheels West

06/04/2026

Happy Month from Meals on Wheels West! Every day, we are committed to having an inclusive space for our diverse community, from volunteers to clients to staff.

We recognize and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community who are our neighbors, friends and loved ones!

06/02/2026

Hidden Hunger, the hunger behind closed doors, is a reality for too many in our community. These neighbors don't ask for help easily. They've lived independent lives at home. They've worked their lives and contributed to our communities. Now, circumstances have changed, and they shouldn't have to choose between food and and other expenses like medicine and rent.

Meals on Wheels West is here for them. But we can only reach them with your help. Every meal delivered is a moment of nourishment, connection, and dignity, and a signal to someone homebound that they have not been forgotten.

Visit mealsonwheelswest.org/hiddenhunger to ensure our delivery program keeps running this summer.

05/28/2026

This , we want to introduce you to Elani.

Elani is 90 years old and has lived in her building in Santa Monica since 1973. She spent her career working front desks - greeting people, making them feel seen. When she could, she traveled the world, discovering new places, people, and cultures. "I learned that we are all alike," she says. "We have the same things happen to us happen all over the world. People are people."

Today, Elani lives on a fixed income. Getting to a grocery store and cooking for herself are no longer possible, especially with rising meal costs. Without Meals on Wheels West, she says simply: she would struggle to eat.

Over the next three months, we need to deliver 33,124 meals throughout Los Angeles County's coastal communities. Every meal we deliver tells a homebound neighbor like Elani that their community hasn't forgotten them.

Today, on World Hunger Day, we invite you to give back to our community. Donate at mealsonwheelswest.org/hiddenhunger or at the link in our bio.

05/28/2026

Today is . 🌍

But hunger isn't just a distant crisis - it's happening right here, behind the closed doors of our neighborhoods. For homebound seniors in our community, a missed meal isn't an inconvenience. It's isolation. It's malnutrition. It's people looking the other way.

This World Hunger Day, look their way. Every dollar delivers a fresh, nourishing meal to a neighbor who needs it. Join us in ending Hidden Hunger.

👉 Donate at the link in bio or at mealsonwheelswest.org/hiddenhunger.

05/22/2026

A huge thank you to the City of Santa Monica - Government Public Works Department for selecting West as the charity beneficiary for their Employee Appreciation Luncheon Dunk Tank fundraiser! 🎉 Your generosity, fueled by your desire to dunk your colleagues, covered all of our client meal fees delivered that same day — a true win-win!

This is just one of the many creative ways your company or organization can make a meaningful difference.

Interested in weaving a component into your next event? We'd love to help make it happen. Reach out to [email protected].

05/22/2026

That smile is the impact of a knock on the door and a friendly face.

For our seniors, veterans, and neighbors who live with chronic illnesses or disabilities, West is much more than a meal. When they see our volunteers during every delivery, that simple act of saying "Hi, how are you today?", reminds our homebound clients that they are seen and supported.

The social connection that our volunteers provide is an important pillar of . Join us on a route for an hour or two of your day to meet your fellow community members and see how much your visit means to them.

🔗 Sign up at mealsonwheelswest.org/volunteer or at the link in our bio.

05/21/2026

Every 40 seconds, someone in America has a stroke.

Learn the warning signs this using B.E.F.A.S.T. from our partners at Providence to help save lives. Providence Saint John's Health Providence Saint John’s Health Center | Providence health system

B - Balance
E - Eyes
F - Face
A - Arms
S - Speech
T - Time

05/19/2026

Our Community Connections Friendly Calling Volunteers are more than a resource. They are a friendly voice reminding homebound Meals on Wheels West clients that they are not alone.

Marty, a longtime Friendly Caller, shares how her weekly calls have created lasting friendships with her clients. She has referred clients to WISE and Healthy Aging, a local nonprofit that provides older adult services, as well as to tenants' rights with the City of Santa Monica.

Marty has had such a huge impact on our community that she was named our Community Connections Volunteer of the Year in 2024.

05/13/2026

Jason receives weekly meals AND weekly Community Connections phone calls. His friendly calling volunteer, Bart, calls every week offering an ear and a voice for someone who needs it.

For Jason, living alone, on a fixed income, those calls means the world. He says it saved his life.

Our mission is Delivering More Than a Meal. Stories like Jason’s are exactly why.

Thank you to every volunteer who shows up for a neighbor in our community. 🧡

05/08/2026

Nearly 400,000 meals a year. Gone.

That's what our aging neighbors stand to lose if California moves forward with a proposed change to how federal aging services dollars are distributed at the county level. We're proud to share a joint op-ed published in today's Santa Monica Daily Press authored by area leaders Kaylee Hawkins, MIS (Executive Director, Meals on Wheels West) and Molly Davies, LCSW (President & CEO, Wise & Healthy Aging). Together, they're sounding the alarm on a funding formula change that would cut 17% of annual funding for LA County — striking hardest at the seniors who need help most.

Right now, at Meals on Wheels West:
🍽️ Nearly 70 neighbors are on our waitlist with no meal slot in sight
🏠 88% of our clients say home-delivered meals are the reason they can stay in their own homes
👴 LA County added 92,000 older adults in a single year — and this formula wouldn't follow that growth

You can help stop this — but you have until Tuesday, May 12 at 5 p.m.
📧 Email [email protected]
📌 Subject line: "Public Hearing Comment IFF Proposal"

Tell the California Department of Aging: Funding must follow need — not geography.

Read the full op-ed here 👇
🔗

California's proposed funding formula change would cut 396,000 meals annually for LA County seniors. Meals on Wheels West and Wise & Healthy Aging urge public comments by May 12, 2026.