Greenwood, SC – Piedmont Agency on Aging Innovates to Boost Meals on Wheels Program
Have you ever wondered how Meals on Wheels delivers all those hot, nutritious meals daily? Well, here’s the inside scoop from Greenwood County. The Piedmont Agency on Aging is on a mission to build a brand-new, state-of-the-art kitchen to keep the meals rolling out smoothly to our elderly neighbors in need.
Every day, the Piedmont Agency on Aging preps and packages a whopping 850 meals at their current site on 111 Reynolds Park Drive in Greenwood County. That’s a lot of cooking! But it’s all worth it when you think about the hot and healthy meals our seniors get every single day thanks to this program.
This initiative all started back in 1971, with a fresh resolve to help our seniors stay independent and live at home as long as possible. Their services span across Greenwood, Abbeville, Laurens, and Saluda counties – no small feat! When it comes to tackling food insecurity, the agency’s Meals on Wheels program steps in to deliver not only food but hope. Each delivery involves more than just dropping off a hot lunch; it’s a welfare check too, ensuring the recipients are safe and well. “So many of them are food insecure and really can’t afford to buy their own food,” says Tracey Bedenbaugh, PAA chief executive officer. “This does at least get them one good meal a day.”
In terms of nutrition, the meals are no slapdash affair. A registered dietitian from Self Regional checks every meal to ensure it provides seniors with one-third of their Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). Every meal includes meat, two vegetables, dessert, bread, and a beverage, rotating on a three-month menu cycle.
The story of their kitchen is quite inspiring. Initially, meals were sourced from outside providers until 1984, when the agency built its own kitchen. This upgrade made them one of the few agencies in the state to prepare meals in-house, though it quickly became clear that it wasn’t enough to meet the growing demand. By 1991, they launched a campaign to fund a new kitchen – the Mercedes A. Pannone Nutrition Center – which opened in 1992.
Fast forward to today, and the need for expansion is once again at their doorstep. With 850 meals prepared and packaged daily and about 220,000 meals provided each year, the sheer demand is immense. The agency, noticing this trend, especially after a substantial uptick in need during the pandemic, is planning to build a new, updated kitchen on-site. “We need to expand, to grow,” explains Bedenbaugh. “We’ve really outgrown that kitchen.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency saw an increase from 750 to almost 950 meals a day. Though demand has slightly waned to 850 meals now, the infrastructure still needs to catch up. PAA utilized relief funds during this time to support their programs, but future-proofing their services remains top priority.
Currently, their kitchen is located a two-minute drive from the main administrative building. Relocating the kitchen to the main site at 808 Emerald Road would streamline operations, allowing them to serve more people potentially 1,500 to 2,000 meals daily. “A larger kitchen would allow us to increase meal production significantly,” Bedenbaugh emphasizes. The new kitchen is set to be twice the size of the current one, featuring additional storage space and modern equipment. Office spaces currently doubling as storage rooms will finally be freed up.
Blueprint discussions began in September 2022 with Davis & Floyd Inc., and while the blueprints are now complete, they are still gathering funds, aiming to start the project by mid-2025. “We are really close to bidding out the project with a contractor,” Bedenbaugh notes. The expected cost? Possibly over $2 million, but the agency is entering this endeavor debt-free – a position they’ve maintained for the past five years.
Once construction kicks off, the existing kitchen building will be sold, with proceeds potentially going toward the project funding. Donations for the new kitchen can be made with “New Kitchen” designated in the memo line.
Beyond the Meals on Wheels program, the agency also provides seniors with educational and recreational programs, transportation, and telephone reassurance services. This latest kitchen expansion effort is just another step in ensuring our community’s seniors live independent, healthy lives.
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