By James Peacock 

New Canaan, Connecticut is a town where 85% of the population is under 65, and the median household income is $214,977 (U.S. Census Bureau). It is a vibrant, picturesque New England town full of affluent young families. However, as Martha Lane sees it, the town is also a place that is “a real gem” for the elderly. That is because of organizations like New Canaan Meals on Wheels.  

Martha is the president of New Canaan Meals on Wheels, an organization that has been a staple in the New Canaan community for more than 50 years. New Canaan Meals on Wheels serves two nutritious meals per day (one hot meal and one cold meal), five days a week, to an average of 55 clients. With the help of local volunteers and Get About, another New Canaan organization, meals are delivered directly to the homes of clients.  

This clientele is “usually elderly, sometimes disabled physically or a little mentally, [and] maybe can’t shop or cook [for themselves],” Martha explained.  

New Canaan Meals on Wheels is “completely self-funded,” and exists independent of the Meals on Wheels of America, a national organization. This is thanks to the help from a variety of donors, ranging from individuals to civic groups to local businesses such as Gates Restaurant & Bar, who pledged to donate all the proceeds from ticket sales of the final heat of their “Battle of the Bands” competition to Meals on Wheels. Other local organizations that contribute to Meals on Wheels include local churches; Walter Stewart Market, a local market; J. McLaughlin, a women’s clothing store; and Rock Paper Scissors, a local party planning organization. Rock Paper Scissors sponsors the “Battle of the Bands” event and has designated Meals on Wheels as the beneficiary for the past two years. 

According to Martha, 53% of Meals on Wheels funds come from individual donors, 31% comes from local organizations, and 14% comes from clients paying for their meals. This outsized proportion of funding coming from individuals and local businesses allows the organization to subsidize some, if not all, of the cost to their clients to receive these meals. These subsidies allow 58% of Meals on Wheels’ clients to receive their daily meals at no cost, while the remaining 42% pay $9 per day, while the organization subsidizes the remaining $5.  

A key component of the work that Meals on Wheels does, aside from the supply and delivery of food itself, is the way in which its volunteers engage with their clients. Often serving as “windows into the community,” volunteers have personal relationships with their clients that go far beyond simply delivering them meals. 

“Most seniors are on a tight budget and these meals being subsidized helps, but it’s the actual fact of hot nutritious food being delivered into homes, with real care and attention to the clients, and the daily check in, that I think is at least as important” Martha explained. 

Like virtually every other business or organization, the onset COVID-19 pandemic was tremendously disruptive for Meals on Wheels. The number of available volunteers decreased, while the number of clients in need increased. Additionally, Waveny Care Center, the kitchen that prepares the meals for the organization could no longer prepare meals in their kitchen. However, what could have been a potentially catastrophic occurrence for the organization instead turned into an example of the town of New Canaan rallying together to help Meals on Wheels.  

This is when their association with Get About began, who offered their services to deliver meals, offsetting the pandemic’s effect on the number of volunteers able to deliver meals. At the same time, a supervisor from the New Canaan School District offered the school’s cafeteria and the services of the cafeteria staff to make meals for the organization while schools were closed.  

“That was game changing,” Martha Lane said, “while I have no doubt at all that we would have kept it going, I’m not sure how!”  

It is certainly not lost on Martha how the town of New Canaan and the local community have, and continue to, make possible the work that Meals on Wheels does.  

“We cannot thank the town of New Canaan enough. They care about so many things, and they definitely care about their elderly and others who receive our meals… it’s a spectacular town, chock full of love and very talented people who know what to do with that love!” 

New Canaan Meals on Wheels likes to say that they “deliver love.” That is the key to understanding the work that they do and their relationship with the town. Their organization is an embodiment of the love that the citizens of New Canaan have for their town, and Meals on Wheels simply seek to share that love, one meal at a time.