Twenty-five years ago on Thanksgiving Day, part-time Hamptons resident and NYC food critic, Gael Greene saw a headline in the New York Times that read, "City Scrimps to Feed the Aged." It was a story about 350 people who were barely receiving one hot lunch delivery once a day, five-days a week. Some would go without food on the weekends, for up to 72 hours.
"Here I was living in the most remarkable city in the world," said Ms. Greene during a recent telephone interview from her office in NYC, "a city that had so much to offer, and people were going hungry. I was horrified at the thought of the elderly not having enough to eat at any time, but it was particularly upsetting at holiday time." As a result of that article, the next day she picked up the phone and called James Beard. Together they devised a way to produce Christmas baskets for the elderly, and by Monday morning, Citymeals-On-Wheels had not only been created, but anyone in New York who was involved with food had been contacted, and $35,000 was raised.
The next thing Ms. Greene did was contact the Commission for the Elderly of NYC, and offer the money to them, provided not a dime was to be spent on administrative expenses. The money had to go to feeding several thousand aged, and homebound recipients. Their word was given that the money would only be used for food.
By 2006, Citymeals-on-Wheels is about to serve its 34th million meal, and there are more than 120 established centers that have fed over 17,500 people. Some of those meals are created and delivered by local Jewish, Chinese, Korean, and Italian (as well as other ethnicities) centers, familiar with their community members who might just be out of the hospital, who don't have help, or who cannot get out of their apartments at all. This one meal a day is their lifeline to the outside world, a lifeline that brings food and company into their homes, allowing them stay in the comfort of their apartments.
Cornell University did a study last year and the statistics for the elderly are astounding. There are people in their 60's who have lost everything, people who were never married or those whose children live far away. 77% are over 80 years old, 100 elderly are 100 years old, there is one mother and one daughter who live together who are 100 and 80 respectively. There are married couples with one using a walker or one in a wheelchair, 73% of elderly live alone, and 75% are women. 14% only have that one meal a day because two meals a day are only set-aside for people who are at risk for malnutrition. All the recipients are chronically disabled, and because we are living longer, the number of recipients is growing rapidly.
The Executive Director of Citymeals-On-Wheels for the last 25 years is Long Island resident Marsha Stein. She has "created an organization under Gael's dream," said Ms. Stein during a recent telephone interview, "Gael was the first to recognize it as a need and devote herself to it as a cause. Gael has been the inspiration to the many board members and staff of which there are now 50,000 contributors a year. And of course 17,500 now receive meals."
This year, in honor of the organization's 25th Anniversary, the 34th millionth meal will be hand delivered by Mayor Bloomberg on Christmas Day. Mayor Bloomberg has contributed to Citymeals-On-Wheels in a number of ways over the years. There are also hundreds of restaurants that are involved, along with members of the food, wine and spirits industry.
This past week, Citymeals-On-Wheels threw their annual, by invitation only, "Power Lunch for Women," at the Rainbow Room. The Chairs were
Meryl Streep,
Iman, and Fran Weissler. This year $1.1 million was raised. For a mere $10,000 a man may attend and choose between whom he'd like to sit.
"Women sit by lot," said Ms. Greene, "and everyone is forced to sit next to someone they don't know. Many wonderful liaisons have come out of this luncheon where we try to evoke the images of the people we feed." Past $10,000 men have been Mayor Bloomberg, Bill Fischer, and Rusty Staub. "And each spring," continued Ms. Greene, "during the first or second weekend in June, Nick Vallenti closes the restaurant to help produce 2000 dinners under the stars, when the star chefs come out to cook at Rockefeller Center."
A complete rundown of upcoming fundraising social events in NYC is listed on the Citymeals-On-Wheels website www.citymeals.org, along with the organization's facts and figures, list of board of directors and mission statement.
To do its part, local NYC and Hamptons market, Citarella is doing a "round-up," where customers can donate $1, $3, or $5 to Citymeals-On-Wheels at check-out. You can contact Citymeals-on-Wheels Program department at
getmeals@citymeals.org or 212 687-1234, In Nassau County, call the senior helpline at 516 227-8900, and in Suffolk County, call the Office for the Aging at 631 853-8200. In order to receive meals-on-wheels service a trained social worker will be sent to your home for an assessment visit.
