All posts by LO-WP

On June 27th the Meals on Wheels Board presented the City of Lake Oswego a check for $43,597.  This covered the deficit the city had to run the MOW program.  LOMOW is the only self funded program in Oregon.  Our 503c conducts fundraising events throughout the year as well as works with individual and business donations.  120 meals are made every M,W,F and feed over 80 households.  An on site program is also provided from 11:30-12 at the Adult Community Center.  All meals are home cooked, also the only such program in Oregon.  Meals cost $14 to produce, The average donation is $4 from recipients so we raise approximately $10 per meal making up the difference.  No person needing a meal is turned down due to lack of funds.  Please help support our senior citizens and DONATE now to Lake Oswego Meals on Wheels!

This years Chamber Breakfast was a huge success with over 25 business’ attending. The Adult Community Center prepared wonderful breakfast sandwiches and their famous cinnamon rolls. The donations for auction items filled the room and brought in a large amount of money which will help LO Meals on Wheels continue to provide meals to its seniors. Pretty impressive for 7:30 AM!!!!!

Beer, brats, and bingo fundraising event was a total success. This year‘s event sold out in two weeks. Over 100 people attended having lots of fun, winning lots of prizes, and showing an incredible amount of support for this important community program that supports our seniors. This year a big Thank you goes to Maletis Beverage for their financial support.

Debi Bradway, LOMOW Board Chair, and other board members presented $40,897 reimbursement check to LO Mayor Joe Buck.

In June 2022, in the City Council chambers, our LOMOW Board presented a check to the City of Lake Oswego to reimburse the net deficit incurred by the City’s funding of the Meals on Wheels program for 2021.

Lake Oswego is one of only a few cities to have its own Meals on Wheels program which is funded from the city’s general fund. The LO Meals on Wheels all-volunteer Advisory Board then holds a variety of fundraisers throughout the year in order to reimburse the city. Since costs are increasing regularly and no resident is denied service due to inability to pay, Lake Oswego Meals on Wheels relies heavily on donations to keep the highly successful program thriving. This year the Advisory Board presented a check for the full amount of the deficit.

As LOMOW Board Chair Debi Bradway explained in her remarks, the mission of the volunteer Lake Oswego Meal Network Advisory Board is to support the Lake Oswego Meals program in the following ways:

  • fundraising;
  • program management feedback to the City
  • community outreach efforts designed to promote involvement, awareness, and support.

 
She added that, “People always wonder if there is a need in Lake Oswego for a meals program. The answer is YES. For the last couple of years 45% of our clients paid little to nothing toward their lunches.”

In addition, LO Meals on Wheels provides a hot meal to senior and disabled residents who could not otherwise shop for and prepare one or themselves. Not to mention someone to provide a friendly smile and check on their well being.

Lake Oswego meals on wheels and Lake Oswego parks and rec partnered in August at the outside Westlake concert providing a raffle/fundraiser. Meals On Wheels volunteers were in bright green shirts selling tickets that split the proceeds 1/3 to Meals On Wheels 1/3 to Parks and Rec and 1/3 to a lucky winner.
Volunteers

As the second year of the Covid-19 and Delta virus disabled the fundraising events we normally have, we were able to successfully implement the second Annual Wine Event to raise funds to support the Meals on Wheels Program. This year we
offered wines from J. Christopher Wines which we were able to purchase at a discount giving our donors the opportunity to receive some lovely and valuable wines with their generous contributions to the program. The Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and
Sauvignon Blanc offerings were packaged as mixed cases and half cases, exclusively from J. Christopher, a Chehalem
Mountain winery, vintages 2017 and 2018-19. The Springs at
Lake Oswego, the new retirement living campus at the corner of
Kruse Way and Boones Ferry offered their location as the
distribution point for the weekend wine pick-up, November 6 &
7, 2021. The Springs even provided entertainment for the
occasion with a Scottish Highlands bagpiper on Saturday and a
Caribbean steel drum musician on Sunday! It was a great venue
for the event and we were extremely grateful to the Springs for
hosting. Again, we raised awareness in the community for the
local Meals on Wheels program, it’s necessity and contribution
as well as being able to give back something of value to the
generous donors to the program. Many thanks to J. Christopher
Wines, The Springs at Lake Oswego, the musicians (who were
in the rain, snow and wind most of the day!!), the LOMOW
board members who organized and delivered wine and to all of
the friends and supporters of Meals on Wheels who donated to
this important event! THANK YOU.

          New Seasons Market Promotes “8 Days of Kindness”

In November 2021’s pre-holiday season, the “8 Days of Kindness” fundraiser was sponsored by New Seasons Market (Mountain Park location) on behalf of Lake Oswego’s Meals on Wheels Program.  The fundraising campaign aimed to raise awareness of the need for food in the community during the holiday season and especially for the eight days leading up to Thanksgiving.  New Seasons Market provided an opportunity for shoppers to easily donate the cost of a meal OR any desired amount to the campaign as they checked out with their regular groceries.  New Seasons prepared all the in-store campaign materials, and cashiers handled the donations as shoppers paid for their holiday items.  In the past, Lake Oswego Meals on Wheels board members and volunteers had “manned” the doors and requested donations as people passed by.  The November ‘21 effort was streamlined with New Season taking on the entire campaign.  Thank you, New Seasons!   Also helping with the campaign was Meals on Wheels People (Portland) who made sure that all the posters and banners were delivered to the Market in time for the kickoff.  Happily, “8 Days of Kindness” was a big success with a total raised of $6,670.  Thank you again, New Seasons Market for supporting the Lake Oswego community.     

In November 2021’s pre-holiday season, the “8 Days of Kindness” fundraiser was sponsored by New Seasons Market (Mountain Park location) on behalf of Lake Oswego’s Meals on Wheels Program.  The fundraising campaign aimed to raise awareness of the need for food in the community during the holiday season and especially for the eight days leading up to Thanksgiving.  New Seasons Market provided an opportunity for shoppers to easily donate the cost of a meal OR any desired amount to the campaign as they checked out with their regular groceries.  New Seasons prepared all the in-store campaign materials, and cashiers handled the donations as shoppers paid for their holiday items.  In the past, Lake Oswego Meals on Wheels board members and volunteers had “manned” the doors and requested donations as people passed by.  The November ‘21 effort was streamlined with New Season taking on the entire campaign.  Thank you, New Seasons!   Also helping with the campaign was Meals on Wheels People (Portland) who made sure that all the posters and banners were delivered to the Market in time for the kickoff.  Happily, “8 Days of Kindness” was a big success with a total raised of $6,670.  Thank you again, New Seasons Market for supporting the Lake Oswego community.    

HomeStreet Bank generously donated a $5,000 check to Lake Oswego Meals on Wheels via Hillary Hess, HomeStreet Bank Vice President. This check will cover the cost of Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays meals for the recipients and the organization. LOMOW is very appreciative of this holiday check from HomeStreet Bank. Such donations support over 18,000 meals that are delivered annually to residents in our community who depend on the nutritious lunches as residents in our community who depend on the nutritious lunches as well as the companionship provided by volunteer drivers.

The Wine Event on September 19 and 22, 2020, was an amazing
success. When we learned it was possible to get as much as 100
cases of wine donated to LOMOW we thought we could offer
wine for donations of $500 or $250. We sent hundreds of emails
to our dedicated donors, businesses, friends and attendees of our
past events. We ended up amassing 72 cases of wine and all 72
cases were given away either by the case or 1/2 case; it was
SOLD OUT ahead of the deadline. The wine was distributed via
a drive – by event at the ACC in Lake O. The donors were
thrilled to get a nice gift for their generous donations at a safe
exchange.
We received contributions of 37,500!!! The only expenses
incurred were printing costs and our thank you ad which ran in
the LO Review. Director’s Mortgage donated the six pack wine
boxes which were easy to fill and load into the cars. Our board
member, very influential in the Willamette Valley Wine Growers
Association procured all of the wine at no cost to LOMOW and
the wine selection was fabulous!
The other two fundraisers we were able to do last year were the
New Season’s October Event and the October month long
restaurant participation event. Because the pandemic restricted
us from being in the New Season Market to ask for
contributions, the store offered to their employees the
opportunity to earn community volunteer hours to work for us.
It was a great compromise as the employees handed out the
cards promoting our meals on wheels program, citing the critical
need and suggesting a donation at grocery check out. They were
able to use community volunteer hours so they were paid to
preform this service. We did not make us much as we normally
do at this fundraiser but were delighted to net 5,000.
The city supported October Meals on Wheels Month is a
collaboration between Lake Oswego Meals on Wheels and local
area restaurants. We recruit restaurants to encourage their
patrons to contribute to LOMOW by adding an amount or a
percentage when paying their check. These funds are deposited
at the end of the month and some restaurants have gone so far as
to match what their patrons have donated up to a specified
amount. This last year the total amount raised was slightly under
5,000. Since many locations were closed for much of the month
or only able to offer take out meals the revenue was less than in
previous years but we were none the less delighted with the
result. __ restaurants participated.
We can say that across the board people were generous and more
than willing to participate whenever they had the opportunity to
help the meals on wheels effort in Lake Oswego.
Aside from actual fundraisers, donations and contributions from
individuals, organizations, businesses, foundations and
sustaining monthly donations increased during the course of the
year in comparison to previous years. I think this was because
many people, businesses, organization and foundations were
poised to contribute more due to the dire situation facing so
many people especially those with food insecurity