Senior Nutrition Program: Connecting Food and Socializing

 

The Senior Nutrition Program provides hot, nutritious meals as well as opportunities to be active and build new friendships. Meals and a variety of services provided at local Senior Centers focus on creating an engaging experience in a supportive and caring environment. Many seniors across Jefferson County attend one of our 27 Senior Centers, where they not only eat a free lunch, but interact with friends and access resources such as transportation, health and wellness information, exercise, fun activities, crafts, volunteer opportunities and community services.

Any resident of Jefferson County, age 60 or older, may attend any of our area Senior Centers. Spouses or persons with a disability who are not yet 60 but reside with an eligible senior may also receive meals through the program.

To get involved, simply call or visit the Senior Center of your choice (click here for a list of area Senior Centers). A simple enrollment form will be completed on your initial visit.

Seniors who are homebound, isolated and do not have access to public or private transportation may be eligible for home-delivered meals through United Way of Central Alabama’s Meals on Wheels program.

The Meals on Wheels program offers two types of home-delivered meals: hot meals delivered daily, Monday through Friday, and frozen meals delivered once weekly. Frozen meals are generally provided in areas where we cannot offer daily delivery. For more information, please click here to visit the Meals on Wheels website.

Meals at Senior Centers and home-delivered meals are completely free of charge to eligible seniors, but in both cases voluntary contributions are encouraged.

For more information on either of these programs, please call 1-800-AGE-LINE (1-800-243-5463).

Volunteers Are Our Driving Force

The Senior Nutrition Program is, in large part, made possible by the many volunteers who generously donate their time to prepare, serve and deliver meals to Senior Centers and to homebound seniors themselves. Those who drive specifically for Meals on Wheels usually commit to a minimum of one day of service each week, taking about one and a half hours to complete their deliveries and visit briefly with each of their grateful recipients. Volunteers use their own vehicles and select a delivery route and frequency that best fits their schedules.

For more information on volunteer opportunities with the Senior Nutrition Program, please click here.