For over a decade, the United Way has teamed up with the Egyptian Area Agency on Aging to co-sponsored meals delivered on holidays to homebound senior adults in Southern Illinois.

Many of our homebound senior adults don’t have family nearby with which to celebrate the holidays. Often, the person who delivers the holiday meal is the only visitor homebound seniors have. That makes our Holiday Meals-on-Wheels program even more important.

We receive funds from every United Way in Southern Illinois, Gray Cemetery Trust, our own fund-raising events, and from donations from the public which help to pay for meals and their delivery. Since we use volunteers, as well as volunteer our time to this project, our locally raised funds are used to purchase meals on the holidays.

Meals are purchased from restaurants, churches, and community organizations on holidays throughout Southern Illinois and delivered by volunteers to homebound older people who cannot be with their family during the holidays.

We serve about 2,000 meals delivered on 8 different holidays:

• News Years Day,
• Easter,
• Memorial Day,
• Day before Fathers' Day,
• Independence Day,
• Labor Day,
• Thanksgiving, and
• Christmas.

Meals were delivered in the following counties in Southern Illinois:

• Alexander,
• Franklin,
• Gallatin,
• Hardin,
• Jackson,
• Johnson,
• Massac,
• Perry,
• Pope,
• Pulaski,
• Saline,
• Union, and
• Williamson.

The Corzine’s, winners of the Governor’s 2002 Unique Achievement Award, helped prepare and deliver holiday meals for many years in their community.

“Because the families of so many of our senior adults live elsewhere, the person who delivers our meals on a holiday is often the only visitor our senior adults have that day,” said John M. Smith, Executive Director of the Egyptian Area Agency on Aging. “That makes the delivered holiday meals even more important and beneficial.”

Some of our stories about Holiday Meals-on-Wheels:
Holiday Meals-on-Wheels
Christmas & Holiday Meals-on-Wheels
Volunteering to Deliver Holiday Meals-on-Wheels
Father's Day

Use the link below to contact us if you’d like help us with the Holiday Meals-on-Wheels program or our fund-raising efforts.

Return to Home Delivered Meals