History

Meals on Wheels Chicago (MOWC) was established in 1987 by a group of community leaders, concerned citizens, and a primary community affiliate, the City of Chicago, to address the unmet nutritional needs of the city's homebound elderly and individuals with disabilities. What they discovered was a shortage of meal service for holidays, emergency meals, and weekend delivery.

To fill this void within the city's existing Home Delivered Meals (HDM) program, MOWC committed to raising private funds through special events, corporate partnerships and individual contributions that would support this well established supplemental food delivery program, as well as a home modification program for individuals with disabilities. Working in partnership with the Chicago Department of Family & Support Services-Senior Services Area Agency on Aging and the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, Meals on Wheels Chicago successfully fulfills our mission to ensure homebound senior citizens and individuals with disabilities maintain dignified and independent lifestyles by providing them with warm nutritious meals and related services.

Through our private fundraising efforts, we are able to fill the gaps in government funding received by the city departments and are the sole source of support for holiday, emergency, and weekend meal services for our city's homebound elderly. Moving forward, it is our sincere hope, that the Chicagoland community will continue to support our efforts and offer peace of mind to the thousands of seniors whose simple wish is to find food security, independence, and self-sufficiency, in their own homes.