Walmart shows commitment to seniors with Meals on Wheels donation

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — The Walmart Foundation has donated $5 million to the Meals On Wheels Association of America to help fight senior hunger in communities across the nation.

Through the grant, MOWAA will boost the efforts of senior nutrition programs, organizations that provide critical services to more than 6 million seniors in the United States currently facing the threat of hunger.

"We know that seniors are among those hardest hit by hunger in this country. Many are home-bound and rely on neighbors and community volunteer programs like Meals On Wheels to help put food on the table," said Margaret McKenna, president of the Walmart Foundation. "Through this $5 million grant, we hope to bring additional attention to senior hunger and help ensure our parents, grandparents and friends who have added so much to our lives have access to healthy and nutritious food."

Part of Walmart's $2 billion commitment to support hunger relief efforts through 2015, MOWAA will use the funding in several ways, including:

• 
  

  Funding "Walmart Foundation-MOWAA Building the Future" grants to help more than 100 local Meals On Wheels programs purchase stoves, refrigerators, trucks and other equipment needed in the fight to end senior hunger in local communities;

  
  


• 
  

  Forming the Walmart Institute for Senior Nutrition Education, a new training initiative consisting of Senior Nutrition Certificate program training sessions and online resources for senior nutrition professionals and the general public; and

  
  


• 
  

  Creating the MOWAA state-affiliated Training Wheels program to help organize additional MOWAA affiliated state associations across the United States.

  
  

"At Meals On Wheels, our goal is to deliver meals so that no senior goes hungry," said Enid Borden, president and CEO of Meals On Wheels Association of America. "We are thankful to Walmart and appreciate their assistance as a long-standing partner in our efforts to reduce and ultimately end senior hunger in the U.S. With this grant and their continued support, we will be able to make a difference for the thousands of seniors in America who are going to bed hungry right now."