Every week, nearly 700 hundred daily meals leave our kitchen and travel throughout Tompkins County into the hands of our neighbors. Each home delivered meal is served by a caring driver who offers a friendly visit and safety check. Our social dining rooms are available throughout the community, and are filled with healthy food, laughter, friendships and volunteer opportunities. Learn more about our programs and services.
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Executive Director's Message
Jessica Gosa, LMSW
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Maya Angelou once said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Foodnet's team, board of directors, volunteers, partners and program participants make me feel a sense of gratitude.
I feel honored to lead a team that works tirelessly to combat some of the biggest threats to healthy aging: isolation, loss of independence, and hunger. I feel appreciation for our compassionate meal delivery team and our services that make an impact in the community, and in the lives of those we serve. I feel inspired by the stories we hear from our participants, and grateful for the relationships that we develop. Our partners, supporters, and community make
us
feel like anything is possible. Most importantly, we feel confident that our work helps our neighbors to
feel
cared for and valued.
Throughout the fall, we have been working on a variety of projects. We are developing our upcoming three year strategic plan to position Foodnet for our next level of growth and ongoing sustainability. In October, we officially launched our new choice menu system, which broadens our menu choices and provides more options for our participants. We traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina for the National Meals on Wheels America Conference, and went to Buffalo to join our New York State Meals on Wheels Association for two days of intensive learning.
As of the end of October, we have served 142,356 meals through our home delivery and social dining programs this year. We expect that this number will be well over 160,000 by the end of the year.
Many thanks for all that you do to support our work. There are not enough words to express our gratitude. Stay tuned for more updates!
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Charles is 85 years old and relatively new to our home delivered meals program. During a routine physician visit, his doctor discovered that he had lost a significant amount of weight in a short period of time. Out of concern for his health, the nurse called Foodnet Meals on Wheels to initiate services. Our registered dietitian met with Charles and discussed his food preferences and helped to come up with a meal plan to include more calories and high protein foods. During the visit, he also shared his concerns about the approaching winter months and being able to heat his house. The dietitian was able to coordinate services with the heating assistance program. Charles has been thriving with Foodnet’s meal delivery services. Charles lives alone, widowed after 55 years of marriage. He tells us that for the first time in a long time with Foodnet's services, he feels more confident in his ability to stay in his own home, which is exactly where he wants to be.
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*Photo provided by Meals on Wheels America Stock Photo Collection. Names and identifying information have been changed to protect confidentiality.
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Our social dining rooms have been bustling with activities! In October, we participated in the
YMCA's Healthy Senior Day! Our dining room participants at the Y enjoyed learning about programming from a variety of organizations, and sampled fresh smoothies before their lunch. We also hosted cooking classes and window sill gardening classes with
Cornell Cooperative Extension at our Titus Towers, and Center Village Court dining rooms.
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Cayuga Medical Center will provide their Stay Steady-Fall Risk Screening in our social dining room on December 13th at the YMCA starting at 9:30am. For more information and to make a reservations for lunch give us a call at 607-266-9553.
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We had a birthday party for our donated Subaru Outback! We can't believe its already been one year since Subaru of America, Inc. donated this amazing gift in partnership with Meals on Wheels America and Maguire Family of Dealerships. As of October, we have delivered
14,152 meals with this vehicle!
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We had a blast participating in the Ithaca Sunrise Rotary Club's Bake-Off! We served up our favorite homemade brownies, and had so much fun sampling treats made by our local bakeries.
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Two awesome interns joined our team! Danielle Klein (Left), MSW intern from Binghamton University, and Cecila Hagen (Right), Cornell University Dietetic Intern.
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We had a great time participating in the United Way of Tompkins County's Day of Caring event. Foodnet is a returning pace-setter organization for the United Way Campaign this year. We are proud to say that we had one hundred percent employee participation again! Our staff contributed over $5,000 to the campaign.
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Featured Foodnet Menu Item
Foodnet's cooks made a delicious broccoli slaw to add to our menu. This salad is low calorie, and loaded with fiber. Here is the recipe in case you want to try it at home:
I
ngredients (for 8 servings)
½ cup Boiling water
1 ¾ oz. Craisins
20 oz. Fresh
Broccoli
3 oz. Red Onion
2 ½ oz. Bacon Bits & Pieces
2 ½ oz. Cooked or canned water chestnuts
2 Tbsp. Light Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. Plain Yogurt
2 Tbsp.
Fresh
Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp. Rice Wine Vinegar
1½ Tbsp. Granulated Sugar
¼ tsp. White
Pepper
Instructions
Boil ½ cup of water and pour over craisins. Let craisins soak in boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain.
Finely chop red onion. Coarsely chop fresh broccoli.
Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, sugar and white pepper. Whisk together until smooth to make dressing for broccoli slaw. Trim broccoli heads into small florets. Use a hand held shredder to shred broccoli stalks. Add broccoli and onion, drained
water chestnuts, bacon bits and craisins to the mayonnaise dressing mixture. Refrigerate at least 1 hour to combine flavors.
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Thank you to our community partners for supporting our work!
(recent awards and recognition)
Our community partners, collaborators, and supporters help us to make a valuable difference each day so our older adult neighbors can live a life without hunger and isolation. Thank you for all that you do to support us.
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Foodnet received $10,000 in funding from the Triad Foundation to install a new telephone system. This project will improve our communications in the areas of service coordination, community inquiries, and administrative services.
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Foodnet was recognized as the Ithaca Sunrise Club's fine proceeds program award recipient. We received $493 to support our work!
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Save the Date! The Mac is Back!
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Now that cooler weather has arrived, we can start thinking about mac 'n cheese. We will host our 6th Annual Mac 'n Cheese Bowl on
Saturday, March 23rd 2019 11:30-2:00pm at Ithaca High School Cafeteria.
Interested in volunteering? Are you a restaurant or caterer that wants to compete? Are you a business who wants to become a sponsor? Contact Lyndsey Bullock, Board Member and Event Planner at
foodnet.macncheesebowl@gmail.com
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Foodnet Meals on Wheels | 607-266-9553 or info@foodnet.org | foodnet.org
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