The success of Meals on Wheels

In the March 11 Good Times section of the Southeast Missourian, an article about Senior Center meal deliveries stated that Southeast Hospital once had a home meal delivery program, but "it wasn't a success." The newspaper's archives from 1974 to 2011 and hundreds of Cape Girardeau citizens who delivered for Southeast's Meals on Wheels program would indicate otherwise.

In existence over 37 years, the Meals on Wheels program founded by Anne ( Mrs. Stephen N. Limbaugh) with assistance from Southeast Hospital Auxiliary colleagues Libby Oliver and Kay Newman delivered thousands of nutritious, medically prescribed meals prepared by Southeast Hospital's Food Service Department. The Auxiliary coordinated the program with scheduling assistance from Southeast's Home Health Services. Weekday meals were delivered by members of the Area Medical Society Medical Alliance and 24 local churches who used their own cars and gasoline.

For many years, over 100 meals were delivered daily within the Cape city limits. During its existence, Southeast's Meals on Wheels program was self-supporting and operated without government funding except for accepting some clients' Food Stamps as payment the last few years.

In 2011, it was decided to end the program because not enough individuals were enrolled to meet the food preparation costs and keep the program self-supporting. The program was phased out over a period of four months to give those still enrolled time to make other meal arrangements.

NANCY BRAY, SoutheastHEALTH Auxiliary Board Member, Cape Girardeau