About

Galveston Island Meals on Wheels, Inc. (GIMOW) is a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization dedicated to delivering nutritious lunchtime meals each weekday to qualifying homebound and elderly citizens of the City of Galveston.

Each meal is delivered by community volunteers with kind words and a smile.

For many recipients this may be the only contact they have with someone outside of their home on a regular basis.

Galveston Island Meals on Wheels is more than just a meal – it’s a vital link for homebound residents and allows them to live more independently at home.

Our Mission and Philosophy

Galveston Island Meals on Wheels reduces food insecurity and social isolation by delivering nutritious meals to Island residents who are homebound and cannot prepare their own meals due to illness, disability or age.

Primary Objectives

There are three primary objectives of the Galveston Island Meals on Wheels Program:

  1. To provide well-balanced, nutritious meals to Galveston citizens who have difficulty preparing or securing meals on their own.

  2. To provide companionship to those served through daily visits from volunteers.

  3. To provide interested citizens an opportunity to work with and minister to the homebound.

An additional benefit of the Meals on Wheels program is that it enables many senior or infirm adults to remain in their homes or to return to their homes sooner following discharge from a hospital or other care facility.

Basic Principles

A major philosophy behind Galveston Island Meals on Wheels is a commitment to keep the program deeply rooted in the Galveston community. With this in mind, two basic principles guide its operations:

  1. We receive no funding from any government entity.  Qualified recipients are asked to contribute towards the cost of meals but no one is denied meals due to inability to contribute.

  2. Volunteers from within the community are recruited to deliver meals and community gifts are solicited to support the cost of the meals.

History

The Galveston Island Meals on Wheels Program began in 1974 as a cooperative effort between the Junior League of Galveston County and Moody House, the Methodist Retirement Communities’ facility in Galveston.

In 2008, a decision was made to form a not-for-profit corporation to ensure uninterrupted meal services to this vulnerable population.

At the time it began operations in 1974, the program delivered just 10 meals per week. Today Galveston Island Meals on Wheels, Inc. delivers nearly 200 meals daily.

Since the program started, more than 500,000 meals have been delivered to the elderly and homebound citizens in Galveston. More than 28,000 meals will be delivered this year alone.