Summer 2026 Newsletter: The Thread That Connects Us
Flip through our latest issue to read updates on our 50th-anniversary celebrations, the Nourish the Need, Fuel the Future campaign, community education highlights, and heartwarming stories from our volunteers and recipients.
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Download Summer 2026 Newsletter (PDF)
A Few More Facts
- In 2025, over 750 volunteers delivered 162,376 meals to people of all ages in the Lynchburg area.
- Through the Animeals Program, 206 pets of meal recipients were provided with a monthly supplement of food through donations from individuals in the community.
- The cost of a one-year supply of home-delivered meals is roughly equal to one day in the hospital.
- At last count approximately 89% of the people we serve receive their meals at no charge to them; 9% pay the full amount. Approximately 2% are charged on a sliding scale, based on ability to pay.
- One in six seniors faces the threat of hunger, according to the State of Senior Hunger in America. In the last 15 years, the number of seniors in America suffering from food insecurity jumped by 45 percent.
Health Impacts of Food Insecurity & Isolation
Food insecurity is dangerous for everyone, but for the elderly in particular. Hungry seniors are:
- 60 percent more likely to experience depression
- 53 percent more likely to report a heart attack
- 52 percent more likely to develop asthma
Those who live alone are at particular risk. Isolation is now considered a major health risk:
- As a predictor of early death, loneliness eclipses obesity.
- Loneliness affects the production of white blood cells, which impairs the immune system’s ability to fight infections.
- In the U.S., roughly 1 in 3 older people live alone.
- Half of those older than 85 live alone.
“The profound effects of loneliness on health and independence are a critical public health problem. It is no longer medically or ethically acceptable to ignore older adults who feel lonely and marginalized.”