November 21, 2025 • 17 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The talk station A thirty fifty five KRC the talk station.
(00:07):
It's some charity love going on there. We had Patty
Scott from Hartford Seniors on the program earlier talking about
the wonderful services and benefits they offer for seniors, you know,
those that are getting cared for either in the home
or in assisted living facilities. And let's pivot on over
to those who maybe need a nice hot meal delivered
to them in studio. Mike Hogan and Natalie cooking from
meals on Wheels, which you can find online at much
(00:27):
more than a meal dot org. Welcome to the Morning show.
Let me initially start by thanking you for what you're
doing each and every day, and I know you got
some real exciting news to pass along to my listeners.
It's welcome to the studio. Thanks Brian, thanks for having
us and appreciate you being a Westsider. Give me a
little bit of love in here in the morning. Mike's
good have you in even though you were a lisalgrad.
I'm not gonna hold that again ship you see though.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Right that's well, I was at UC for a long time.
I'll give a shout out to our daughter Abby go
Bearcats tomorrow go against a big game against BYU.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Natalie, we didn't go past your educational background. Are you
a local girl?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I grew up in Dayton, so I'm a little bit local,
but I did marry a Westsider.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Wow at your element huh A little bit? Yeah, let
me guess he's a frugal, financially conservative guy. Sure, there's
always an outlier. I always said it was in the
genetic pull over the west Side. You know, frugality rules
the day, or at least it did as I was
growing up, and it's something I inherited from my West
(01:22):
Side blood or maybe my parents. But yeah, very frugal
and conservative when it comes to whether or not you're
going to spend money. All right, moving away from that,
talking about meals on wheels, How long has meals on
Wheel's been around? I was looking at the statistics of
the number of seniors that you held, pretty overwhelming number
out there, but meals on wheels, let me remind my
listeners to the extent they're not familiar with it, what
(01:43):
you do each and every day, the nature of the organizations.
Then we'll pivot over to this exciting news you've got.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Sure, thanks for so Meals on the wheels of Southwest
Ohio and Northern Kentucky has really been operating under that
brand since about twenty twenty two. In the COVID era,
we were able to come together with two other nonprofits
in town. Our history really dates back to nineteen thirty
seven as Wesley Community Services. During the pandemic, we merged
with Cincinnati Area Senior Services also known as CASS and
(02:13):
fifty five North, which was the Hyde Park Senior Center.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I seem to recall my dad having some connection with Wesley.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Jerry absolutely was involved with Wesley for many, many years.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Oh that's wonderful. I'm glad that there's that, you know,
personal connection, just different name, same kind of helping out.
So you home deliver meals. We use it for folks
that are house bound, you know, shut in types, folks
without the family and structural support to get fed every day.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, sure, so, I think a lot of us, a
lot of folks know us for our home delivered meal program.
We serve over ten thousand clients in the Greater Cincinnati
Northern Kentucky area. About seventy five hundred of those are
our home delivered meal clients. Beyond that, We also provide
nutrition at over twenty congregate sites throughout the city. That's
anything from the Green Township Senior Center over on the
(02:58):
west side over to the east side and the Anderson
and Senior Center, and then we have over we have
about fourteen sites in northern Kentucky that we're at daily providing,
providing meals, lunches, breakfasts. It's folks for a place for
them to gather. Beyond that, we have a pretty robust
transportation program.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
You do, yeah, we do.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
We're able to provide about forty thousand individual trips a
year for grocery stores, doctors' offices, social gatherings, et cetera.
Just a way to get folks out of the house
who don't have the ability to maybe drive anymore, or
looking for kind of that social interaction.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I had no idea. And these are all services that
you offer to the senior community at no cost or
is it a cost associated with it, because of course,
I mean gasoline sales, food costs are food is outrageous.
Let's all uniformally agree the price of food's gone through
the roof and everybody's complaining about it. So how does
the operation deal with these financially sure.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
So all of our services go through the Council line
Aging of Southwestern Ohio. Any client who wishes to take
a look at the services that we can provide can
reach out to them directly. They'll work through the intake,
they'll get them set up and get them connected with
us as well, and we can go through, you know,
just the variety of services that we offer, and we provide.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Wonderful and again that's much more than a meal dot
Org said very slowly and articulating the words, much more
than a meal dot or because there if you type
in meals on wheels in your search engine. There are
a lot of these organizations that's wonderful and it's great
that they're everywhere, But if you want the one locally,
you want to maybe make a gift. I encourage my
listeners to do that, most notably this time of year
(04:29):
or volunteer. We'll talk about some of the additional things
that we as a community can do for them, and
the announcement about a new well, I'm not even going
to reveal anything. It's a little teaser there. We got
some important things to talk about. We will continue with
Mike and Natalie from Meals on wheels don't go away
fifty five KRC Do you own a small business? A
seismic shift is coming. It's time to get super short
(04:50):
cod of KRCD talk station A thirty eight coming E
thirty nine. If you have KCD talk station Meals on
Wheels by Cogan and Natalie cooking in studio. They're for
meals on wheels, find them locally much more than a
meal dot Org and I we're talking to them. I
was talking to them on the break, Mike and Natalie
(05:11):
about they do all these meal preparations in house ninety
nine point nine percent the vast majority you are cooking
the meals in house. And then of course they have
folks that are volunteering and delivering the meals to those
seniors out there in the world that need them. We
went through a little bit of the betting process on that.
But you reach over ten thousand seniors you mentioned, but
the number of meals, which will move over and segue
(05:31):
into the announcement you have you outgrew your facility. It
sounds like by an overwhelming amount. Let my listeners know
how many meals you prepare annually and what your facility
was set up to do versus what you actually do.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, we're a little tight on space right now, Brian.
We're the building that we're in, we've been in for
a number of years, and we're designed optimally to be
about three hundred thousand meals a year to produce in house.
Right now we're producing about one point two million meals.
So we're at the max for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
For sure, there's that much need and demand out there,
there is.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, absolutely, and what.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You're yeah, well, I think our distribution manager said it best.
We can't do any more, but we can't do any less.
We can't do anymore because we are really truly at capacity,
and we can't do any less because the need is
there and the need is growing.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So you how many total meals on Wheels organizations are
there out there in the country? It is ever five thousand,
five thousand, and where where does Cincinnati and the much
more than meal dot org Meals on Wheels chapter here
in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky. Where does it rank
among those five thousand?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So we're always ranked among the five or six largest
in the United States.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
That that I mean in this greater Cincinnati area.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, we serve thirteen counties, five counties in Ohio and
eight in northern Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Is there a reason there's so many that rely on
meals on wheels here? Is it just the outreach that
you engage in the awareness because you know, I think Chicago,
New York. Sure, there's a lot bigger cities out there,
there are, and you see a lot of cities.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I was looking, you know at Atlanta and Houston where
you know, they've gotten larger populations, but they've got multiple
organizations in those cities that are doing this work. We're
kind of the leading organization that's that's providing the services
that we're able to provide.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay, so kind of a monopoly, which in one respect
is a really good thing, but in another you're at capacity.
You can't help anybody else. So you are over Radcliffe Drivers,
Where you are now? Yep? Yep? Where are you moving to?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
So we're heading east, heading off the west side a
little bit. We last April we publicly launched our Driving
into the Future campaign, which was a thirty million dollar
private fundraising campaign for our new facilities. Thanks to the
amazing generosity of this community, we've raised almost twenty five
million dollars towards the word.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, they're all private dollars. Private. Oh, I love hearing that.
It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
We're we're very blessed here in Cincinnati to have the
philanthropic arm.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
That we have. Yes, now it's just individuals or businesses.
I mean, obviously you are a tax free organization or
a tax exempt organization. Are you a five h one
to three CE organization? So this is a tax deductible
contribution out there. Absolutely a strong suggestion, given that we're
in the giving time of year, there's got to be
someone out there in the world, some business, some individual
that might be more than happy to donate to this
(08:15):
obviously in need organization meals on will. So we're going
to encourage him to do that. The facility, then we'll
be able to manage the one point two million that
you do. Now is it. Can you grow with a
new facility as well?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
We absolutely can. So we're really excited to be moving
over to Columbia Township. The old John Nolan Ford from
many listeners who may have bought a car or two
from there, has sat empty for a couple of years,
and we were able to acquire that facility and We're
going to retrofit it from the ground up into a
really a state of the art facility that will allow
us to produce up to three million meals a year.
(08:49):
But beyond just the meals brand, we're also going to
have access to community rooms our volunteer operations, which I
do want to mention We've got over five thousand volunteers
a year that come in and really make the organization
come to life. They will have more resources, more space,
and more ability to make this thing happen.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Now I see on your website much more than a
meal dot or I'm gonna mentioned like nineteen more times.
So we're done here to get folks remembering it. You
do have a link for volunteering. What types of volunteers
are you hoping for? What are the ways in which
people can volunteer and get signed up to volunteer.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So it's everything from you know, girl Scouts will come
in and decorate birthday bags. It's one of the highlights
of our clients. They'll get birthday bag on their birthday
every year and yeah it is so sweet. But they'll
you know, help pack snack boxes in addition to the
meals we help to you know, stuff pantries every week
with kind of just some of the essentials cookies, crackers,
juice boxes, fruit cups, things like that. They can also
(09:42):
come in and pack pet food. I think a lot
of folks don't know that we have a pretty large
pet program.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
When we do. We do.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
We provide over thirty pounds of pet food per year
for all of our clients.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
You know, never would have thought of that, because the
joy of having a come opinion when you are a senior,
it's like one of the best things you can do
is have a catter a dog in the house to
give you the love and attention, give you something to
do as a senior. Never thought about the reality because
I own a dog, and I know how expensive dog
food's gotten. She's Louise, it's gotten expensive. Yeah, it sure has.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And you nailed it. I mean, it's really it's about
being able to bride.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
For the senior.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But we recognized how important that companionship is for their
quality of life. Yeah, so to be able to help
them maintain that, maintain it in their home and promote
that independent living, it's really important for us. Now what
about the drivers, So all of our drivers, our staff,
we're staff about one hundred and forty and all of
our drivers are staff drivers. They are not volunteers, and
that's important to us because it allows us to maintain
(10:41):
continuity with our seniors. Our seniors really develop a strong
relationship with their drivers. They know who's going to be there,
when they're going to get there, and in many ways,
our drivers become an extension of their family.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I'm sure. And then there's also the idea of them
being your employees, your background checks to make sure that
they're up to snuff on their ability to drive and
don't have a commercial driver's license from say California. Sorry,
I had to say that. Don't do not hold Mike
and Natalie responsible for the editorial comments from Brian Thomas
related to politics. As we talk about this important organization,
(11:13):
Meals on Wheels, we'll do one more segment, much more
than a meal Dot talk Station, perfect timing, Judge Tracker
Take forty nine fifty five KRC the talk station Joey
pez See Meals on Wheels, making it a wonderful world.
(11:49):
Always say when Joey sings that song on a Friday,
there's always something out there to look at and say,
it is a wonderful world. And I am sitting in
front of two people, Mike Cogan and Natalie cooking from
Meals on Wheels who are pro that helping out ten
thousand seniors cooking one point three million meals annually and
in a new space that allow them to expand to
three million meals annually. We're talking about volunteer work. You're
(12:11):
talking about your drivers that are on staff and off air.
You know you mentioned the pet food. What other service
you offer and help seniors get the pet food? I
wasn't thinking really out of the box. I'm thinking meals
on wheels. They deliver a meal and they wheel away.
Because these drivers are regularly and a constant presence in
(12:32):
these seniors' lives, they get to know them. As I
found out over the break, quite often they become a
temporary plumber or a can you fix this? Why you're here?
Kind of thing. So they are in the best possible position,
like a teacher looking out at the students each and
every day. They're in the best possible position to observe
whether or not something's going awry in that senior's world.
(12:53):
And I understand that you partner with the social Protective
Services so you can alert them if there's anything going on,
or you can investigate it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, So our drivers are all trained to spot something amiss,
whether that is perhaps a utility that isn't working, or
if our client is looks injured or looks ill or
looks a little bit different, or maybe something is off,
they're able to report that back to our team. We're
able to escalate it. So again what Mike was saying
(13:23):
about the continuity between our drivers and our clients, we
really deliver a wellness check whenever we drop off food.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Great. Well, since Patty Scott was on earlier, I think
you are ideally suited to maybe partner up with Heart
for Seniors and keep some of those amazing bandages in
those drivers cars. They could drop a box off any
of the seniors that have any wounds or anything like that.
These co peel on and off without tearing the skin,
without doing any wound. I mean, it's just they're wonderful.
(13:51):
So here I am trying to merge YouTube together to
continue to help the seniors out in the community. You
also off we were joking about this on the break
because my mom struggles with technology, how I even struggle
with technology and Mike you had mentioned you also offer
seniors financial or not only financial education, but help with
technological advancement. Sure.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, our digital literacy program, we're really able to put
technology into their hands and then teach them how to
use it. I think often, you know, through the pandemic,
we learned how important things like FaceTime we're to help
keep in touch. But you know, it's also important to know,
you know, when you leave a doctor's appointment, how to
log back into your mind chart accountant on staying you
do that when you find out, you let me know,
(14:33):
So I think just to be able to give them
all the resources that they have. Our protective services program,
we've got a team of licensed social workers that help
with over two hundred cases a year that help manage that.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So that's really great, No wonder you're so wildly successful
in the area. So anything else my listeners need to
know about, because I'm doing everything I can to get
them to adopt this your organization and again make a
contribution at much more than a meal dot org. Sure, thanks, Brian.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, so, really we are unable to do what we
do without the support from the community, and right now
in the season of giving it as we approach the
end of the year. You know, any contributions and gifts
to our organization make a tremendous impact. One of my
favorite things that I get to do is when I
walk through the office and I see, you know, a
box that's being delivered to a senior, and I see
the name on that box.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
That's one person.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That's one human whose life we're going to make better
that day by being there for them. So any support
to your support, the community support, we're tremendously grateful for it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, I'm grateful the fact that I know now more
about your organization. I really had some tremendous amount of
respect before you came in on what you're doing delivering
these meals, But now that I know everything else you do,
the Thomas Household will be making a financial contribution this
morning to your organization. I am already at the donation page.
You've made it very easy to make a donation, so
I assure you this morning you'll have a few more
(15:53):
hundred dollars in your pocket to help this help the
seniors and do the work that you're doing. I wish
all the up with the new facility. When do you
think the new facility will be open. Obviously, you've got
a little bit of work to do getting the kitchen
up and run.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, we got to put some fresh pain on the walls,
but will hope to be in by the by the
end of twenty twenty six, and then there'll be a
transition period from a production standpoint, but by twenty.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Seven we should be up and going, so you'll still
be crowded up until the end of the next calendar
year a little bit, all right, But I wish you
all the luck in the world getting that accomplished, and
want to thank you on behalf of all my listeners
for what you have been doing for so many years.
And I'm glad my dad had a connection with the
prior Wesley group or that provided these services and kind
(16:35):
of gives me a warm feeling of my heart and
I think about my dad and how much I miss them.
So I'm glad that you're there. Thank you again one
more time. Did you guys get the website already? Did
you pay attention much more than a meal dot org right,
you know it, Get over there, help them out. It's
been a pleasure having you in. Feel great about this
holiday season knowing that you're out there and I wish
(16:55):
you all the best in your future. And with a
new space, you're going to be helping more and more people,
which is indeed glorious thing. Thank you, Thanks having Thanksgiving,
to both of your happy holidays down
The talk station A thirty fifty five KRC the talk station.
(00:07):
It's some charity love going on there. We had Patty
Scott from Hartford Seniors on the program earlier talking about
the wonderful services and benefits they offer for seniors, you know,
those that are getting cared for either in the home
or in assisted living facilities. And let's pivot on over
to those who maybe need a nice hot meal delivered
to them in studio. Mike Hogan and Natalie cooking from
meals on Wheels, which you can find online at much
(00:27):
more than a meal dot org. Welcome to the Morning show.
Let me initially start by thanking you for what you're
doing each and every day, and I know you got
some real exciting news to pass along to my listeners.
It's welcome to the studio. Thanks Brian, thanks for having
us and appreciate you being a Westsider. Give me a
little bit of love in here in the morning. Mike's
good have you in even though you were a lisalgrad.
I'm not gonna hold that again ship you see though.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Right that's well, I was at UC for a long time.
I'll give a shout out to our daughter Abby go
Bearcats tomorrow go against a big game against BYU.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Natalie, we didn't go past your educational background. Are you
a local girl?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I grew up in Dayton, so I'm a little bit local,
but I did marry a Westsider.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Wow at your element huh A little bit? Yeah, let
me guess he's a frugal, financially conservative guy. Sure, there's
always an outlier. I always said it was in the
genetic pull over the west Side. You know, frugality rules
the day, or at least it did as I was
growing up, and it's something I inherited from my West
(01:22):
Side blood or maybe my parents. But yeah, very frugal
and conservative when it comes to whether or not you're
going to spend money. All right, moving away from that,
talking about meals on wheels, How long has meals on
Wheel's been around? I was looking at the statistics of
the number of seniors that you held, pretty overwhelming number
out there, but meals on wheels, let me remind my
listeners to the extent they're not familiar with it, what
(01:43):
you do each and every day, the nature of the organizations.
Then we'll pivot over to this exciting news you've got.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Sure, thanks for so Meals on the wheels of Southwest
Ohio and Northern Kentucky has really been operating under that
brand since about twenty twenty two. In the COVID era,
we were able to come together with two other nonprofits
in town. Our history really dates back to nineteen thirty
seven as Wesley Community Services. During the pandemic, we merged
with Cincinnati Area Senior Services also known as CASS and
(02:13):
fifty five North, which was the Hyde Park Senior Center.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I seem to recall my dad having some connection with Wesley.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Jerry absolutely was involved with Wesley for many, many years.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Oh that's wonderful. I'm glad that there's that, you know,
personal connection, just different name, same kind of helping out.
So you home deliver meals. We use it for folks
that are house bound, you know, shut in types, folks
without the family and structural support to get fed every day.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, sure, so, I think a lot of us, a
lot of folks know us for our home delivered meal program.
We serve over ten thousand clients in the Greater Cincinnati
Northern Kentucky area. About seventy five hundred of those are
our home delivered meal clients. Beyond that, We also provide
nutrition at over twenty congregate sites throughout the city. That's
anything from the Green Township Senior Center over on the
(02:58):
west side over to the east side and the Anderson
and Senior Center, and then we have over we have
about fourteen sites in northern Kentucky that we're at daily providing,
providing meals, lunches, breakfasts. It's folks for a place for
them to gather. Beyond that, we have a pretty robust
transportation program.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
You do, yeah, we do.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
We're able to provide about forty thousand individual trips a
year for grocery stores, doctors' offices, social gatherings, et cetera.
Just a way to get folks out of the house
who don't have the ability to maybe drive anymore, or
looking for kind of that social interaction.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I had no idea. And these are all services that
you offer to the senior community at no cost or
is it a cost associated with it, because of course,
I mean gasoline sales, food costs are food is outrageous.
Let's all uniformally agree the price of food's gone through
the roof and everybody's complaining about it. So how does
the operation deal with these financially sure.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
So all of our services go through the Council line
Aging of Southwestern Ohio. Any client who wishes to take
a look at the services that we can provide can
reach out to them directly. They'll work through the intake,
they'll get them set up and get them connected with
us as well, and we can go through, you know,
just the variety of services that we offer, and we provide.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Wonderful and again that's much more than a meal dot
Org said very slowly and articulating the words, much more
than a meal dot or because there if you type
in meals on wheels in your search engine. There are
a lot of these organizations that's wonderful and it's great
that they're everywhere, But if you want the one locally,
you want to maybe make a gift. I encourage my
listeners to do that, most notably this time of year
(04:29):
or volunteer. We'll talk about some of the additional things
that we as a community can do for them, and
the announcement about a new well, I'm not even going
to reveal anything. It's a little teaser there. We got
some important things to talk about. We will continue with
Mike and Natalie from Meals on wheels don't go away
fifty five KRC Do you own a small business? A
seismic shift is coming. It's time to get super short
(04:50):
cod of KRCD talk station A thirty eight coming E
thirty nine. If you have KCD talk station Meals on
Wheels by Cogan and Natalie cooking in studio. They're for
meals on wheels, find them locally much more than a
meal dot Org and I we're talking to them. I
was talking to them on the break, Mike and Natalie
(05:11):
about they do all these meal preparations in house ninety
nine point nine percent the vast majority you are cooking
the meals in house. And then of course they have
folks that are volunteering and delivering the meals to those
seniors out there in the world that need them. We
went through a little bit of the betting process on that.
But you reach over ten thousand seniors you mentioned, but
the number of meals, which will move over and segue
(05:31):
into the announcement you have you outgrew your facility. It
sounds like by an overwhelming amount. Let my listeners know
how many meals you prepare annually and what your facility
was set up to do versus what you actually do.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, we're a little tight on space right now, Brian.
We're the building that we're in, we've been in for
a number of years, and we're designed optimally to be
about three hundred thousand meals a year to produce in house.
Right now we're producing about one point two million meals.
So we're at the max for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
For sure, there's that much need and demand out there,
there is.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, absolutely, and what.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You're yeah, well, I think our distribution manager said it best.
We can't do any more, but we can't do any less.
We can't do anymore because we are really truly at capacity,
and we can't do any less because the need is
there and the need is growing.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So you how many total meals on Wheels organizations are
there out there in the country? It is ever five thousand,
five thousand, and where where does Cincinnati and the much
more than meal dot org Meals on Wheels chapter here
in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky. Where does it rank
among those five thousand?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So we're always ranked among the five or six largest
in the United States.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
That that I mean in this greater Cincinnati area.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, we serve thirteen counties, five counties in Ohio and
eight in northern Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Is there a reason there's so many that rely on
meals on wheels here? Is it just the outreach that
you engage in the awareness because you know, I think Chicago,
New York. Sure, there's a lot bigger cities out there,
there are, and you see a lot of cities.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I was looking, you know at Atlanta and Houston where
you know, they've gotten larger populations, but they've got multiple
organizations in those cities that are doing this work. We're
kind of the leading organization that's that's providing the services
that we're able to provide.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay, so kind of a monopoly, which in one respect
is a really good thing, but in another you're at capacity.
You can't help anybody else. So you are over Radcliffe Drivers,
Where you are now? Yep? Yep? Where are you moving to?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
So we're heading east, heading off the west side a
little bit. We last April we publicly launched our Driving
into the Future campaign, which was a thirty million dollar
private fundraising campaign for our new facilities. Thanks to the
amazing generosity of this community, we've raised almost twenty five
million dollars towards the word.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, they're all private dollars. Private. Oh, I love hearing that.
It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
We're we're very blessed here in Cincinnati to have the
philanthropic arm.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
That we have. Yes, now it's just individuals or businesses.
I mean, obviously you are a tax free organization or
a tax exempt organization. Are you a five h one
to three CE organization? So this is a tax deductible
contribution out there. Absolutely a strong suggestion, given that we're
in the giving time of year, there's got to be
someone out there in the world, some business, some individual
that might be more than happy to donate to this
(08:15):
obviously in need organization meals on will. So we're going
to encourage him to do that. The facility, then we'll
be able to manage the one point two million that
you do. Now is it. Can you grow with a
new facility as well?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
We absolutely can. So we're really excited to be moving
over to Columbia Township. The old John Nolan Ford from
many listeners who may have bought a car or two
from there, has sat empty for a couple of years,
and we were able to acquire that facility and We're
going to retrofit it from the ground up into a
really a state of the art facility that will allow
us to produce up to three million meals a year.
(08:49):
But beyond just the meals brand, we're also going to
have access to community rooms our volunteer operations, which I
do want to mention We've got over five thousand volunteers
a year that come in and really make the organization
come to life. They will have more resources, more space,
and more ability to make this thing happen.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Now I see on your website much more than a
meal dot or I'm gonna mentioned like nineteen more times.
So we're done here to get folks remembering it. You
do have a link for volunteering. What types of volunteers
are you hoping for? What are the ways in which
people can volunteer and get signed up to volunteer.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So it's everything from you know, girl Scouts will come
in and decorate birthday bags. It's one of the highlights
of our clients. They'll get birthday bag on their birthday
every year and yeah it is so sweet. But they'll
you know, help pack snack boxes in addition to the
meals we help to you know, stuff pantries every week
with kind of just some of the essentials cookies, crackers,
juice boxes, fruit cups, things like that. They can also
(09:42):
come in and pack pet food. I think a lot
of folks don't know that we have a pretty large
pet program.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
When we do. We do.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
We provide over thirty pounds of pet food per year
for all of our clients.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
You know, never would have thought of that, because the
joy of having a come opinion when you are a senior,
it's like one of the best things you can do
is have a catter a dog in the house to
give you the love and attention, give you something to
do as a senior. Never thought about the reality because
I own a dog, and I know how expensive dog
food's gotten. She's Louise, it's gotten expensive. Yeah, it sure has.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And you nailed it. I mean, it's really it's about
being able to bride.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
For the senior.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But we recognized how important that companionship is for their
quality of life. Yeah, so to be able to help
them maintain that, maintain it in their home and promote
that independent living, it's really important for us. Now what
about the drivers, So all of our drivers, our staff,
we're staff about one hundred and forty and all of
our drivers are staff drivers. They are not volunteers, and
that's important to us because it allows us to maintain
(10:41):
continuity with our seniors. Our seniors really develop a strong
relationship with their drivers. They know who's going to be there,
when they're going to get there, and in many ways,
our drivers become an extension of their family.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I'm sure. And then there's also the idea of them
being your employees, your background checks to make sure that
they're up to snuff on their ability to drive and
don't have a commercial driver's license from say California. Sorry,
I had to say that. Don't do not hold Mike
and Natalie responsible for the editorial comments from Brian Thomas
related to politics. As we talk about this important organization,
(11:13):
Meals on Wheels, we'll do one more segment, much more
than a meal Dot talk Station, perfect timing, Judge Tracker
Take forty nine fifty five KRC the talk station Joey
pez See Meals on Wheels, making it a wonderful world.
(11:49):
Always say when Joey sings that song on a Friday,
there's always something out there to look at and say,
it is a wonderful world. And I am sitting in
front of two people, Mike Cogan and Natalie cooking from
Meals on Wheels who are pro that helping out ten
thousand seniors cooking one point three million meals annually and
in a new space that allow them to expand to
three million meals annually. We're talking about volunteer work. You're
(12:11):
talking about your drivers that are on staff and off air.
You know you mentioned the pet food. What other service
you offer and help seniors get the pet food? I
wasn't thinking really out of the box. I'm thinking meals
on wheels. They deliver a meal and they wheel away.
Because these drivers are regularly and a constant presence in
(12:32):
these seniors' lives, they get to know them. As I
found out over the break, quite often they become a
temporary plumber or a can you fix this? Why you're here?
Kind of thing. So they are in the best possible position,
like a teacher looking out at the students each and
every day. They're in the best possible position to observe
whether or not something's going awry in that senior's world.
(12:53):
And I understand that you partner with the social Protective
Services so you can alert them if there's anything going on,
or you can investigate it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, So our drivers are all trained to spot something amiss,
whether that is perhaps a utility that isn't working, or
if our client is looks injured or looks ill or
looks a little bit different, or maybe something is off,
they're able to report that back to our team. We're
able to escalate it. So again what Mike was saying
(13:23):
about the continuity between our drivers and our clients, we
really deliver a wellness check whenever we drop off food.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Great. Well, since Patty Scott was on earlier, I think
you are ideally suited to maybe partner up with Heart
for Seniors and keep some of those amazing bandages in
those drivers cars. They could drop a box off any
of the seniors that have any wounds or anything like that.
These co peel on and off without tearing the skin,
without doing any wound. I mean, it's just they're wonderful.
(13:51):
So here I am trying to merge YouTube together to
continue to help the seniors out in the community. You
also off we were joking about this on the break
because my mom struggles with technology, how I even struggle
with technology and Mike you had mentioned you also offer
seniors financial or not only financial education, but help with
technological advancement. Sure.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, our digital literacy program, we're really able to put
technology into their hands and then teach them how to
use it. I think often, you know, through the pandemic,
we learned how important things like FaceTime we're to help
keep in touch. But you know, it's also important to know,
you know, when you leave a doctor's appointment, how to
log back into your mind chart accountant on staying you
do that when you find out, you let me know,
(14:33):
So I think just to be able to give them
all the resources that they have. Our protective services program,
we've got a team of licensed social workers that help
with over two hundred cases a year that help manage that.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So that's really great, No wonder you're so wildly successful
in the area. So anything else my listeners need to
know about, because I'm doing everything I can to get
them to adopt this your organization and again make a
contribution at much more than a meal dot org. Sure, thanks, Brian.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, so, really we are unable to do what we
do without the support from the community, and right now
in the season of giving it as we approach the
end of the year. You know, any contributions and gifts
to our organization make a tremendous impact. One of my
favorite things that I get to do is when I
walk through the office and I see, you know, a
box that's being delivered to a senior, and I see
the name on that box.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
That's one person.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That's one human whose life we're going to make better
that day by being there for them. So any support
to your support, the community support, we're tremendously grateful for it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, I'm grateful the fact that I know now more
about your organization. I really had some tremendous amount of
respect before you came in on what you're doing delivering
these meals, But now that I know everything else you do,
the Thomas Household will be making a financial contribution this
morning to your organization. I am already at the donation page.
You've made it very easy to make a donation, so
I assure you this morning you'll have a few more
(15:53):
hundred dollars in your pocket to help this help the
seniors and do the work that you're doing. I wish
all the up with the new facility. When do you
think the new facility will be open. Obviously, you've got
a little bit of work to do getting the kitchen
up and run.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, we got to put some fresh pain on the walls,
but will hope to be in by the by the
end of twenty twenty six, and then there'll be a
transition period from a production standpoint, but by twenty.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Seven we should be up and going, so you'll still
be crowded up until the end of the next calendar
year a little bit, all right, But I wish you
all the luck in the world getting that accomplished, and
want to thank you on behalf of all my listeners
for what you have been doing for so many years.
And I'm glad my dad had a connection with the
prior Wesley group or that provided these services and kind
(16:35):
of gives me a warm feeling of my heart and
I think about my dad and how much I miss them.
So I'm glad that you're there. Thank you again one
more time. Did you guys get the website already? Did
you pay attention much more than a meal dot org right,
you know it, Get over there, help them out. It's
been a pleasure having you in. Feel great about this
holiday season knowing that you're out there and I wish
(16:55):
you all the best in your future. And with a
new space, you're going to be helping more and more people,
which is indeed glorious thing. Thank you, Thanks having Thanksgiving,
to both of your happy holidays down
Brian Thomas News
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