Catholic Charities receives $5M to provide additional meals to Southern Nevada seniors

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Catholic Charities’ Meals on Wheels program provides its services to Las Vegas Valley seniors in need at no cost.

The organization received additional funding to provide more meals to seniors within the community after COVID-19 slowed down some deliveries.

“They have been a blessing to me,” said Meals on Wheels recipient Richard Hayes.

For over a year, Hayes has relied on his Meals on Wheels deliveries. “I would be struggling without them,” he said .

Meals on Wheels serves more than 8,000 nutritious meals to over 2,000 homebound valley seniors every week.

“Make sure they eat, make sure they have a meal, and sometimes we are the only face that they see,” said Meals on Wheels delivery driver Nehemiah Locke. COVID hit deliveries hard and there are currently 900 people on the waitlist to get Meals on Wheels services.

“During COVID, it was kind of hard to reach them, but now we have more of a free range to reach whoever we can,” Locke explained.

Catholic Charities’ operation got a lot more support as it received $5 million in state funds to use over the next couple of years to deliver meals, fruits and milk to more seniors.

“I couldn’t thank anybody enough for contributing when they are able,” said Hayes.

“We are continually looking to be as efficient as we can and strengthen our infrastructure so we are able to serve more coming up in the future,” said Leslie Carmine, Director of Media and Community Relations for Catholic Charities.

Some said that this will go beyond providing seniors in the community with just a meal.

“We check on them and make sure that they are alright and make sure that they are still healthy and make sure that if there is anything else they need,” said Locke.

“I want to say there is love behind it,” said Hayes. “It is more than just food.”

If you are interested in donating, information about how to do that is available here.

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