Peninsula Volunteers - Press Release

Press Contact:

Michelle Knapik
Executive Director & CEO
Peninsula Volunteers, Inc.
Phone: 650-326-0665 x223
Email

Walmart Foundation Grant to Meals On Wheels Association of America to Help Feed Hungry Seniors at Peninsula Volunteers, Inc.

Grant received at critical time as economy threatens seniors in South San Mateo County.

February 26, 2010, Menlo Park, CA – Peninsula Volunteers, Inc. (PVI) Meals On Wheels has been awarded $14,850 through a Walmart Foundation grant to the Meals On Wheels Association of America (MOWAA). The money will provide PVI with much-needed storage for delivery equipment, which is critical to continue serving seniors in our communities.

This financial support is desperately needed as many Meals On Wheels programs across the country are struggling to survive during this economic downturn. The “Walmart Foundation Impact Grant” is intended to help PVI continue to meet the long term equipment needs of providing meals to our seniors in South San Mateo County.

Last year, many Meals On Wheels programs were forced to change or reduce their services, but the Walmart Foundation stepped in to help restore those meals. This year, the Walmart Foundation is spending more than $2 million nationwide to make sure Meals On Wheels programs have the equipment they need to maintain their operations into the future.

“Seniors have been hit especially hard in this economy and we feel a responsibility to help,” said Margaret McKenna, president of the Walmart Foundation. “We’re proud to support Meals on Wheels programs across the U.S. who work on the front lines of ending senior hunger.”

“Thanks to the Walmart Foundation Impact Grant, we now are able to feed the homebound in our community more efficiently,” said Michelle Knapik, Executive Director of PVI. ”This grant will help us provide the next meal to many of our clients in need and will truly make a difference for the homebound of South San Mateo County.”

“The Walmart Foundation has once again stepped up to the plate as a powerful partner in the fight to end senior hunger,” said Enid Borden, president and CEO of MOWAA. “They are our largest corporate partner to date and their support will make a tremendous impact in helping our programs sustain meal services well into the future. We can’t thank the Walmart Foundation enough for joining us in our national movement to end senior hunger in America by 2020.”

Late last year MOWAA released a groundbreaking study revealing six million seniors in America face the risk of hunger. The report, entitled, “Senior Hunger in the United States: Differences across States and Rural and Urban Areas” was sponsored by MOWAA and shows that the number of seniors facing the hunger risk jumped an astonishing 20 percent in just one year. The Walmart Impact Grant Program is intended to help combat the problem of senior hunger.

Peninsula Volunteers, Inc. is a pioneer in senior services and was the first volunteer organization to receive a HUD grant to develop and build low income senior housing in the United States. For more than 60 years, Peninsula Volunteers has created and provided high quality and nurturing programs for the aging in South San Mateo County, allowing them to pursue long and useful lives. Each year Peninsula Volunteers delivers over $4 million in services, including over 150,000 hot meals to seniors and the homebound, and touches over 4,500 households through its programs: Meals on Wheels; Little House, The Roslyn G. Morris Activity Center; Rosener House Adult Day Services; and Peninsula Volunteers Properties, Inc. The latter provides 82% of the affordable senior housing in Menlo Park, at Crane Place and Partridge/Kennedy Apartments. For more information please visit our web site at www.peninsulavolunteers.org.

About Philanthropy at Walmart
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are proud to support the charitable causes that are important to customers and associates in their own neighborhoods. Through its philanthropic programs and partnerships, the Walmart Foundation funds initiatives focused on creating opportunities in education, workforce development, economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness. From February 1, 2008 through January 31, 2009, Walmart – and its domestic and international foundations – gave more than $423 million in cash and in-kind gifts globally. To learn more, visit www.walmartfoundation.org.