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Area Office on Aging Wins National
Award for its Meals Program for Local Veterans in Need
The Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Oho,
Inc. (AOoA) received its 14th national Aging
Innovations & Achievement Award yesterday. Northwest Ohio’s
Area Office on Aging continues to stand out as one of the
premier agency’s in aging among the 618 Area Agencies on
Aging nationally. The National Association of Area Agencies
on Aging (n4a) presented the AOoA with national Aging
Achievement Award for developing a public/private
partnership with Chik-fil-A who provides meals to the
veterans for no cost once a month.
The AOoA also partnered with the Lucas County Veteran
Service Commission, National Church Residences, and Valley
Food Services to provide Saturday brunch to the veterans at
Commons at Garden Lake. Older adults struggling to get
enough food is a growing problem in northwest Ohio. When the
Area Office on Aging evaluates the needs of older northwest
Ohioans, it noticed that the percentage of older adults who
said they eat fewer than three meals a day increased by 8%
compared to four years earlier. “Before coming to live here,
I was homeless and depressed. I received home-delivered
meals and the Saturday brunch meals and my fellow veterans
and I really appreciate the meals. The meals and getting to
know my fellow veterans better has helped me a lot,” said
veteran Bradley Rollins. About eight percent of older
northwest Ohioans, or 15,505 older adults, are food
insecure.
To make sure the nutrition needs of the younger veterans
are also being met, the AOoA partnered with the Lucas County
Veteran Service Commission, which pays for the meals
provided to veterans under age 60.
Over the last seven years, the Area Office on Aging has
been working to raise awareness about the senior hunger and
malnutrition problem in our community and working to find
solutions, like the veteran meal program, to address this
issue. This program illustrates how the AOoA has worked with
existing and new partners to create new nutrition programs
to meet previously unmet nutrition needs. Area Office on
Aging President/CEO, Mrs. Billie Johnson, said, “This work
to end senior hunger and malnutrition in our community has
been bearing fruit in terms of improving the health and
well-being of older adults in our community.”
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