Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels now has additional funding to continue it home-delivered meals program for area seniors thanks to a grant from the Cynthia Woods and George Mitchell Foundation.
Under terms of the grant, the amount is not being disclosed.
Meals on Wheels CEO Manuela Arroyos said the additional funding will help her organization continue providing its essential service.
“The board of directors, staff and volunteers for Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels are very honored to have received these much needed funds from the Cynthia Woods and George Mitchell Foundation to help our organization continue its mission in caring for the seniors in our communities,” Arroyos said.
Cynthia Woods and George Mitchell are well-known names in Fort Bend County because of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands and Mitchell Energy & Development Corporation, one of the Houston-Galveston area’s leading real estate developers and one of the nation’s largest independent natural gas and liquid hydro-carbons producers. Its largest real estate development project is The Woodlands.
Arroyos said the funding will help Meals on Wheels serve an ever-increasing number of seniors.
“The baby boomers make up one-third of the population, and the first wave of this large cohort will begin turning 65 in 2011. Due to this large group, Fort Bend Seniors is forecasting the needs in the community to begin doubling and tripling in the next one to twenty years,” Arroyos said. “However, our organization provides services to those 60-plus and, since January 2010, we have been receiving over 30-plus calls a week from seniors in need of meals and services, which is where the Mitchell Foundation funds are a true blessing.”
According to Texas State Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, for every senior citizen served by the Meals on Wheels program, taxpayers are saving $30,000 a year per senior served. Based on that figure, Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels program is saving Texas taxpayers more than $30 million a year.
“Again, we are very thankful for the Mitchell Foundation funds, which will go along way in providing meals for our seniors. Thank you,” Arroyos said.
For more information on Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels, volunteering to deliver meals to seniors or to donate, please visit www.fortbendseniors.org or call 281-633-7052, or e-mail kweiss@fortbendseniors.org.
