WesleyLife Meals on Wheels is celebrating a milestone this month: Principal Financial Group® becomes the first Des Moines-based organization to coordinate a week-long volunteer effort to support meal deliveries and well-being checks for older adults and military veterans in the Des Moines metro area.
Each March, Meals on Wheels commemorates the 1972 addition to the Older Americans Act that established a national nutrition program for older adults. This legislation enabled the rapid expansion of the Meals on Wheels network, which now serves 2.8 million people annually across the United States, including thousands in Iowa through WesleyLife Meals on Wheels.
During the final week of March, 80 Principal team members will deliver 39 Meals on Wheels routes, ensuring that hundreds of older Iowans and military veterans receive nutritious meals and critical well-being checks. Additionally, 48 team members will volunteer in the Prairie Meadows Hydroponic Farm on the WesleyLife Meals on Wheels campus, where they will plant and harvest greens that will be incorporated into Meals on Wheels meals and made available to the public.
The power of service
"Principal believes in the power of service to create stronger, healthier communities,” said Jo Christine Miles, director of Principal community relations and Principal Foundation. “Our team members’ commitment to service is evident in this week-long initiative to deliver meals throughout the Des Moines metro to older adults and veterans and to harvest nutritious produce for those meals. We are excited to support WesleyLife Meals on Wheels in their mission and we are committed to meaningfully impacting the communities where we live and work."
Shannon Draayer, executive director of community nutrition for WesleyLife, said the unprecedented commitment from Principal underscores the power of organizational volunteerism in supporting the health and well-being of our community’s older adults. “Principal’s willingness to step up for an entire week exemplifies the spirit of Meals on Wheels and the impact that businesses can have when they invest in community service,” Draayer said. “Our program also benefits from Principal team members who regularly deliver meals as part of their emphasis on volunteerism.”
WesleyLife Meals on Wheels served 428,116 meals last year in Polk and Dallas counties. More than 70 percent of clients who receive meals at home live alone, illustrating the critical need for the well-being checks that are a differentiating part of the program. Meals on Wheels drivers have saved client lives every year since the program’s inception.
Join in!
WesleyLife invites other businesses and community groups to consider volunteer efforts to help expand the reach and impact of its Meals on Wheels program. For more information on opportunities, visit wesleylife.org/meals-on-wheels. To assist in supporting Meals on Wheels or WesleyLife’s other areas of outreach, visit WesleyLife Foundation at wesleylife.org/giving.