About

Galveston Island Meals on Wheels, Inc. (GIMOW) 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.

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 regularly.

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.

Primary Objectives

There are two 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.

Receiving meals from GIMOW may enable aging or disabled 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 an inability to contribute. Donations from the community support the cost of meals and program operations.

  2. Volunteers from within the community are recruited to deliver 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. Annually, GIMOW delivers over 50,000 meals to Island residents.