COVID-19 Impact on Meals on Wheels Providers

In March 2020, as COVID-19 hospitalizations increased and shelter-in-place orders were announced in various states, Meals on Wheels America heard tales from local Meals on Wheels providers about sudden community dining program closures, shuttered in-person supportive services and loss of volunteer capacity coupled with unprecedented demand for home-delivered meals. Entire programs and operations were overhauled practically overnight.

Meals on Wheels America embarked on a study at the end of 2020 designed to quantify local provider accomplishments, pivots, challenges, perceptions and expectations, and help Meals on Wheels America to understand how best to meet providers’ needs during the pandemic and beyond. This year-end study combined a quantitative survey of 351 local providers supplemented with qualitative online focus groups.

Key Findings

Local providers faced a number of immediate challenges that required making significant changes when the pandemic began in March 2020. These findings tell the story of the pandemic’s impact on Meals on Wheels providers and their heroic response.

Changes to Home-Delivered Meal Services

• 90% of providers reworked their home-delivered meal program in response to the pandemic.
• Providers began serving more meals and more seniors and delivering on fewer days. 
• Providers were serving on average 59% more home-delivered meals in November 2020 than they were before COVID-19. 
• 76% of providers believed their new model for home-delivery may be here to stay even after COVID-19.

Changes to Community Dining Services

• Community dining (also known as congregate) services closed abruptly as physical distancing measures were put in place, leaving many providers having to quickly figure out ways to safely continue to serve their congregate clients.
• Providers adapted their community dining programs in a number of ways, including offering meals in a drive-thru or grab-and-go format, switching community dining clients to home-delivered clients and offering community dining in limited capacity and/or on fewer days

Changes to Social Connection Services

• Virtually all providers (98%) saw reducing social isolation as a mission-critical aspect of their work. 
• The most popular social isolation interventions throughout the pandemic were low-tech solutions, such as continuing to deliver meals daily, making comfort phone calls and mailing cards from volunteers and staff.

Changes to Volunteers

• Many providers saw increased volunteerism from younger demographics and new community sources.
• However, nearly 3 out of 4 providers agreed that leveraging volunteers would be a struggle moving forward.

Changes to Partnerships

• 50% of providers leveraged local partnerships to supply emergency meals and help with maintaining programs due to COVID-19.

Changes to Unmet Need

• 86% of providers reported feeling there was remaining unmet need for home-delivered meals in their community. 
• 29% said they would have to increase their home-delivered meal efforts by nearly double or more to serve the unmet need.
• At the same time, providers were reporting diminished attention and funding support compared to when COVID-19 first hit.

This research effort has helped Meals on Wheels America to better understand and communicate the shorter-term impacts that COVID-19 has had on local providers and the ways in which providers were able to quickly adapt their operations to safely continue serving older adults in their communities. The findings also uncovered a number of ways in which providers are considering leveraging the changes they have had to make in light of the pandemic into lasting adjustments to their services. While providers may look different now and moving forward, one thing remains clear: Local Meals on Wheels providers do what it takes to ensure the older adults they serve are not left hungry or alone. However, more funding and volunteers are needed to ensure they can reach all older adults in their communities who need services.

In reproducing any excerpts of this report, please provide a credit that recognizes Meals on Wheels America, such as: Meals on Wheels America. (2021). COVID-19 Member Impact Study. https://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/research/covid-19-impact-on-meals-on-wheels-providers/