Meal production expansion bolsters Meals on Wheels Yolo County’s ability to serve and to remain solvent
by Anne Stokes
Since 2022, Meals On Wheels Yolo County (MOW Yolo) has grown hand over fist, going from nourishing 380 seniors to 1,200—a 300% increase in just three years.
To keep up with demand, MOW Yolo upgraded its kitchen facility, moving from a 2,800-square-foot facility in Woodland to a new 5,000-square-foot institutional meal production facility in Winters. The upgrade was made thanks in part to a $150,000 investment by Sutter Health.
“It’s been a long-standing tradition in Yolo County to operate our own kitchen. It’s about being rooted in community. The community takes a lot of pride in the fact that our Meals on Wheels program has its own facility,” says Joy Cohan, executive director of MOW Yolo. “We knew we needed more space.”
The new facility, called the Meals on Wheels-Sutter Health Senior Nutrition Center, needed renovations before meal production started in April 2024 (with a complete transfer of workload from the Woodland facility by June 2025).
“It’s been a long-standing tradition in Yolo County to operate our own kitchen. It’s about being rooted in community. The community takes a lot of pride in the fact that our Meals on Wheels program has its own facility.”
Joy Cohan, Executive Director, Meals on Wheels Yolo County
The facility’s development was also sparked by fiscal concerns. Despite funding from the Older Americans Act, generous private philanthropy from corporate partners such as Sutter Health, Dignity and CalFoods Logistics and even after shifting to all frozen meals and reduced weekly deliveries, MOW Yolo faced a shortfall with the loss of the pandemic-era funding (namely from the American Rescue Plan, which ended last year).
“That led us to consider what makes us unique? What are our assets in this whole operation?” Cohan says. “We had to come up with some other sustainable revenue stream. That’s where the social enterprise idea was born from, and it’s been growing for us.”
Most other MOW programs don’t have their own meal production capabilities, forcing them to order meals from elsewhere. Not only can the Meals on Wheels-Sutter Health Senior Nutrition Center offer a lower cost-per-meal price than many other senior meal providers, it can also produce medically tailored meals for diabetic and renal diets, as well as culturally appropriate meals, which remain under development. Such a social enterprise is a win-win: Other nonprofits can reduce their costs while providing healthier meals to their patients and clients while MOW Yolo is able to put those profits back into their own meal production and continuing to serve local seniors.
“This partnership was a clear choice for Sutter Health because it aligns with our community health investment priorities and brings innovative, collaborative solutions to our communities,” says Angelika Corchado, director of Community Health for Sutter Health’s Greater Sacramento Division. “Supporting programs like Meals on Wheels helps increase access to nutritious meals, which is a powerful way to prevent chronic diseases, and in this way treats food as medicine. We’re proud to support these efforts to improve the health and well-being of older adults in our region.”
In addition to serving 1,200 seniors in Yolo County, MOW Yolo contracts with other nonprofits who provide nutrition services, including:
- Passages’ Agency on Aging senior nutrition program in Chico
- Dignity Health’s Yolo Adult Day Health Center
- Yolo Cares’ Galileo Place Adult Day Program
- YoloCares’ Joshua’s House hospice for the unhoused
- New Leaf’s senior nutrition program for Colusa County
- Meals on Wheels Yuba and Sutter Counties
“We’ve gotten healthier meals into the tummies of seniors in Chico and Colusa County. There are seniors who would otherwise not have food in Yuba and Sutter counties who are getting these meals, and they’re getting medically tailored varieties. This is all super rewarding and great for everyone.” Cohan says.
“That’s the definition of a social enterprise.”
For more information on how Meals on Wheels Yolo County can help you—or how you can help MOW Yolo—visit www.mowyolo.org or call 530-662-7035.
