Kaiser Permanente Addresses Hunger And Loneliness Among Older Adults

Kaiser Permanente is supporting five Northern California organizations that are working to alleviate hunger and decrease social isolation among older adults.

With the support of grants totaling $450,000 from a Kaiser Permanente fund at the East Bay Community Foundation, organizations in Fresno, the Central Valley, Sacramento, and the Bay Area will distribute food, conduct wellness checks, and organize activities for older adults over the next year. The goal: to improve the quality of life for aging populations in their communities.

According to the California Department of Aging, one in four California residents will be over the age of 60 by 2030. Californians are living longer than ever before, and the increased cost of living is causing many older adults to struggle with purchasing enough nutritious food.

In 2023, more than one-third of low-income adults 60 or older (with household incomes equal or less than 200% of the federal poverty line) were found to be food insecure, according to the California Department of Aging. Further, social isolation and loneliness are on the rise across the country and about 20% of older adults in the state live alone, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Kaiser Permanente recognizes that everyone needs and deserves access to healthy food. When people are hungry, lack proper nutrition or cannot access the food they need to address medical needs, they are less likely to get or stay healthy. In addition, research indicates that loneliness can lead to serious health consequences, including an increased risk of dementia, depression, anxiety, heart disease, and stroke.

Grants will support home delivery of nutritious foods and programs that provide social connections

The $450,000 in grants provide much-needed support to five key organizations focused on enhancing access to nutritious food and providing programs and services to reduce social isolation and loneliness that will serve more than 6,000 people.

The grants include:

• $90,000 to Cultiva La Salud to increase access to healthy foods for older adults in Fresno and rural communities in eastern Fresno County by distributing healthy foods directly to their door, in partnership with Central California Food Bank.
• $90,000 to Second Harvest of the Greater Valley, which will distribute free supplemental groceries twice a month to seniors facing hunger. The program will benefit adults aged 60 and above living on low-to-moderate incomes, providing services at 20 partner program sites located throughout San Joaquin County and home food delivery for qualified participants in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
• $90,000 to Meals on Wheels Sacramento County to deliver meals to homebound seniors and serve meals at community cafés. This project will benefit food-insecure residents aged 60 and above who rely on home-delivered and congregate meal services for their health and well-being.
• $90,000 to Meals on Wheels San Francisco, which will provide essential nutrition through delivered meals and offer wellness checks, friendly visitor programs and social work services to help decrease social isolation among older adults.
• $90,000 to the Council on Aging to provide nutritious meals and foster intergenerational social connection for older adults in Sonoma County through programs that allow older adults to reminisce and reflect on their lives by sharing their beliefs, history, and life lessons with a paired volunteer.

“Meals on Wheels Sacramento County is charged with serving nutritious meals to seniors with food insecurities. We are mainly a volunteer-based program and balancing ever-changing funding presents challenges, however, the grant received through Kaiser Permanente for $90,000 has the potential to serve 21,000 meals between our home delivered meals and our congregate cafe programs,” said Mindy Klick, Executive Director, Meals on Wheels Sacramento County. “This is 21,000 meals that Meals on Wheels Sacramento County would not have been able to provide to an ever-growing vulnerable senior population within the county. We are grateful for the additional funding and partnership and look forward to future opportunities to grow both awareness for Kaiser Permanente services and the Meals on Wheels Sacramento County cause.”