Life has changed for everyone since March and that is true for Culver Palms Meals on Wheels continuing to feed our clients.
Before March, hot and cold meal deliveries were made Monday through Friday. In mid-March we had to adjust to serving frozen meals delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Our food supplier, St. Vincent’s, no longer delivered the meals. Now Dave, our Volunteer Coordinator, picks up the boxes of frozen meals downtown. Volunteers then pack these frozen meals into client-labeled bags and put them into cardboard boxes with paper route sheets enabling the Delivery Volunteers to hang the meals on the client’s door, ring the doorbell, and keep a safe distance for the client to retrieve their food. Many of our loyal regular drivers and assistants are not currently volunteering due to health concerns, so there have been a lot of new people filling in.
One positive new initiative during this time has been the twice weekly donation of fresh meals from Homeboy Industries. This was funded by LA-Tech and Cedars Sinai. Our clients really enjoyed these bonus meals from May through September.
Changes at CPMOW during Covid-19
Emergency Food Boxes & Bags
Client Messages
Thank You Donors & Volunteers
New Board President Alan Hall
Note from Executive Director Pam FriedenThank you…
…of all the generous donations of food and supplies from our community:•Debra Perry •Cat Edwards •Connie Carlsen Alex Abramson •Aimee McManass •Amy Levit •Lily Garoner •Hind Aineb •Kathy Johnson •Sally Chan •Ana Parkinson •Fred Puza •Suzanne Hickenlooper •Julie Wes
…a big shout out to Mike Bonin, Los Angeles Council member, for his generous donation …to the Culver City Women’s Club for donating handmade masks …to all Volunteers who pack & deliver meals …a very special thank you to Laurie Escalera who orchestrated so many volunteers and products for our seniors including many boxes of Dr. Bronner hand sanitizer …to Cecelia Boskin, Caroline Spurgeon, Meryl Needles and Julie West who are making Wellness Calls to our clients to check in on them and see if they have any food or basic supply needsCPMOW is a small non‐profit, with a board of directors elected to support our mission. We currently have eight board members from a variety of backgrounds from the local community including educators, financial professionals, a former mayor of Culver City, and retired business managers. The one thing we have in common is our goal to feed and provide support for the home bound in need in the Culver Palms area.
I am a retired aerospace engineer and was elected President six months ago. While providing meals for our clients is the primary function of our staff and volunteers, fundraising is probably one of the more important functions of our board.
Complimenting the efforts of our donors, volunteers, Pam and her staff, all board members feel privileged to be able to continue the amazing work of CPMOW.Hello everyone, Well…. We are still standing! Like all of you, I feel these past months have been one heck of a roller coaster ride, but through it all I have been so impressed by the humanity and the compassion shown by those living in our community. To the volunteers who stepped up and continue to give of their time, the corporations, foundations and individual donors who gave and continue to give from their heart to help our vulnerable seniors, I thank you all, and I am so grateful for each, and every one of you.
We were flooded by phone calls at the beginning of the pandemic and to be quite honest, a bit overwhelmed as we (my staff and I) had to completely re-think the program. Changing from hot meals to frozen meals, and even finding the last freezer in LA (thanks to our bookkeeper- Marylou) to store the meals, was an answer to one of many prayers. I am so grateful to the leadership of our board of directors as well, who stood by us and supported us in this pandemic as we needed to change all our protocols. Whatever we needed they were there in full support.
And here we are today, like I said, still standing. With a 40% increase in the number of seniors we serve, 5 additional routes, and the ability to help 52% of our clients who cannot afford meals, none of this would have been possible without everyone’s help. Thank you all for making sure no senior goes hungry.
And the future? Well like you, we are taking it one day at a time. Where this virus goes none of us knows, but I do know we will get through this. Eventually, we will be returning to a hot meal delivery. Our regular volunteers will return as well, and we will all be wiser and stronger for enduring this pandemic. But for now, stay the course, stay healthy and stay safe. We will see you soon!
mealsonwheelsculverpalms.org/donate
When you Donate on the website, check “Make this a monthly donation” and your gift will be charged each month to your credit card account.
We will be collecting Holiday Gifts for clients starting November 1st. Go to mealsonwheelsculverpalms.org to see our list.
To match the gifts you make to CPMOW
Designate CPMOW as your nonprofit of choice at these companies and they will donate a small percentage of your purchases to us:
ralphs.com
smile.amazon.com
igive.com
CPMOW Newsletter Fall 2020 designed and edited by Board Member Julie West with help from CPMOW staff David Colitre & Suzanne Moller. Special thank you to Beth Nadeau for design & formatting assistance.