Mission
Longmont Meals on Wheels (LMOW) promotes client health and independence through good nutrition and social interaction. The agency helps older people and people with disabilities in Longmont, Niwot, Hygiene and Lyons with proper, affordable nutrition so that they can stay self-sufficient in their own homes for as long as possible.
More about this organization
LMOW’s principle program, comprising 85% of its operations last year, is to provide ready-to-eat home-delivered meals to older people who are at risk of malnutrition because they have difficulty getting food. In addition to food insecurity, LMOW’s clients find themselves isolated because they must rely on others to visit them or take them out of their homes. (In fact, 66% of homebound clients reported leaving the house once a week or less, and 14% leave monthly or less.) The program strives to address both issues: LMOW prepares healthy meals that meet or exceed all nutritional guidelines and fulfill many special-diet needs. They offer the meal on a sliding-fee scale. They recruit volunteers to deliver the food to clients’ homes. Clients look forward to this daily wellness check because it offers them human contact and less isolation. Further, LMOW’s volunteers are trained to observe our older neighbors for signs of changes that may indicate an emergency or declining health. In 2024 LMOW served 100,651 meals to 925 unduplicated homebound clients. Last year LMOW served 22 people over 95 and three people over the age of 100, helping them remain self-sufficient and in their own homes!
Longmont Meals on Wheels also provides community lunches at the Longmont Senior Center, for A Day Place, an adult day facility and for Lunch Bunch, a dementia-friendly lunch group. The meal allows older individuals to receive the nutrition they need and gives them the opportunity for community and socialization, which in turn, helps them to stay physically and mentally active and self-sufficient. In 2024 LMOW served an additional 16,564 community meals to an additional 656 unduplicated clients. New in 2024, LMOW began offering a new pay structure for its community meals. Mondays-Wednesdays are free, and Thursdays-Fridays are $2. There is also a salad offering Wednesdays-Fridays.
