WesleyLife Receives $500,000 Prairie Meadows Grant

WesleyLife is pleased to receive a $500,000 Prairie Meadows Legacy Grant that will assist the organization in transforming a building in the Drake University neighborhood of Des Moines into a new Meals on Wheels campus, WesleyLife leaders announced today.

“We’re honored to receive this generous gift and grateful that Prairie Meadows is supporting this effort in such a meaningful way,” Sophia S. Ahmad, left, Vice President of Philanthropy for WesleyLife, said.

“Developing the new campus will allow us to triple meal capacity and offer programming to combat isolation in older adults and military veterans of all ages. The legacy grant makes a tremendous difference in our ability to serve these deserving populations.”

The grant has been earmarked for the creation of a hydroponic garden inside the new space at 3206 University Ave. in Des Moines, Ahmad said. The garden, which will be named in honor of Prairie Meadows, will grow fresh produce to add to the nutritional value of the 3,000 meals that will be prepared daily on the new campus.

The initiative to develop the new campus was empowered by a gift of $1.05 million from Des Moines philanthropist Suzie Glazer Burt in cooperation with Drake University. The university provided a building at 3206 University Ave. — the institution’s former School of Education building — to WesleyLife, which will redesign the space into a hub of meal creation and social interaction.

Including the gift of the building, the So Much More than Meals campaign has raised $6.2 million toward the project. The campus is slated to open next year to replace WesleyLife Meals on Wheels’ current operation at 944 18^th Street in Des Moines, which produces about 1,000 meals a day and houses offices and meeting space.

Details of the So Much More than Meals initiative include:

• Building a kitchen 65 percent larger than the current one. The increased size will grow meal-production capacity to 3,000 meals per day and expand the geographic reach of the existing program.
• Improving the nutritious quality of meals by creating the 3,000-square-foot indoor vertical garden, which will grow tomatoes, onions, leafy greens, and other vegetables.
• Providing on-site multigenerational programming and experiences to help combat social isolation among the area’s older adults and veterans, many of whom live alone.

The So Much More than Meals campaign is spearheaded by Polk County Supervisor Angela Connolly, community leader and retired Des Moines City Council member Christine Hensley, and AARP State Director Brad Anderson. Volunteer committee members, including business leaders and philanthropists across Central Iowa, are bolstering their efforts.

WesleyLife leaders expect to break ground this fall for the new campus.

Prairie Meadows’ Legacy Grant program provides funding in the range of $100,000 to $1 million for large-scale signature projects in central Iowa. Funding from the program has helped to develop the iconic Principal Riverwalk, the world-class Pappajohn Sculpture Garden, the Iowa Hall of Pride and Des Moines Public Library.

“We are honored to be included with these other landmark initiatives, which speaks to Prairie Meadows generosity and recognition of WesleyLife’s proven track record to serve and impact our community”,” Ahmad said. “We look forward to a long partnership with Prairie Meadows that will benefit residents of Des Moines and surrounding communities for generations to come.”