Question: I’ve been seeing TV reports about Lanakila Meals on Wheels, which is subsidized by the state. But there is another organization called Meals on Wheels that is not subsidized by the state. Can you clarify the differences between the two?
Answer: Both nonprofit organizations provide a service to hundreds of people, mainly the elderly and disabled, who might not otherwise get a good meal or interact with anyone during the day.
Lanakila Meals on Wheels, which started in 1971 with a lunchwagon, is "the largest ‘meals on wheels’ proprietor and we are the only provider that serves the entire island of Oahu," said Marketing Manager Marlena Willette.
It is a program of Lanakila Pacific, which provides various programs and services for adults with disabilities.
"Our focus is really on low-income and rural areas," delivering more than 200,000 meals a year, Willette said. "We also prepare all our meals in our kitchen, which is a food service training program for people with disabilities."
There is no charge.
"Seniors are provided with an opportunity to make voluntary anonymous contributions and no one is denied a meal for inability to donate," Willette said.
The program’s annual operating budget is approximately $3 million.
"About 60 percent of our funding is federal and state funding; the remaining 40 percent is donations from community grants and proceeds from our social enterprises," Willette said.
Lanakila also has catering services, as well as "custom product services, such as silk-screening T-shirts that provide jobs and training opportunities for people with disabilities," she said. That revenue helps support Lanakila Meals on Wheels.
"We both have the same mission helping our seniors — making sure no senior goes hungry and they have the opportunity to live independently and prevent more costly care," Willette said of the two "meals on wheels" programs.
For more information, call 531-0555 or go to www.lanakilapacific.org/programs/lanakila-meals-on-wheels.
Hawaii MOW
Hawaii Meals on Wheels was started in 1979 by a broad group of progressive, multidenominational churches, with "the caveat that no one could evangelize or push their religion; it was only about service," said Executive Director Claire Shimabukuro.
The organization, based at Manoa Valley Church, has an annual budget of $1.5 million — 10 percent from federal grants and the rest from fundraising.
Volunteers deliver meals along 45 lunch routes and two dinner routes, weekdays, from Hawaii Kai to
as far as Ewa Beach and Mililani. Last year, 712 people were served.
There are no fees. "We do ask clients if they can contribute anything towards their meal, but we don’t decline service to anyone who cannot," Shimabukuro said.
Among the differences between the two meal providers, she said, are:
» Lanakila provides meals for congregate dining at senior centers, as well as delivering meals, while Hawaii Meals on Wheels delivers hot meals only to its constituents.
» While Lanakila has its own central kitchen, Hawaii Meals on Wheels buys its meals, primarily from hospitals and care homes.
» Both organizations serve homebound people, but "we serve a more frail population," she said.
"We’re dedicated to helping Oahu’s elderly and also people with disabilities," she said. "We serve people who are below elderly age, who have chronic or terminal disease or who are recovering from a hospital stay."
The aim is to preserve independence at home and to provide regular personal interaction, she said.
For more information, call 988-6747 or go to hmow.org.
Mahalo
To the angel in the form of a young man in a white Ford pickup truck who stopped to push my disabled car to the side of Houghtailing Street during peak morning traffic and asked if I would be OK. The aloha spirit is alive and well! — Feeling Blessed
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