I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Community

Days

2

Volunteer

honored

2

New Board

Member

2

Customer

Service &

Community

Corner

3

By the

Numbers and

Hello /

Goodbye

3

Nutrition

Update

4

Community

Calendar

4

M E A L S O N W H E E L S F O R

W E S T E R N N E W Y O R K

Our Community F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8 V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 2

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

Meals on

Wheels

volunteer

honored by

Walmart and

the Buffalo

Sabres.

A new board

member joins

the Foundation

Board.

New equipment

in commissary

makes an

impact.

2018: Planning for the Future In 2017, you completed many important accomplishments that I am proud of – such

as the completion of a new commissary floor; the introduction of tablets for our dietitians to enable more efficient online client assessment; the expansion of our

planned giving program; and the daily delivery of food, friendship and hope to those

in need.

Our goals for 2018 continue to be focused on moving the organization forward and

planning for future growth and increased sustainability. It would be impossible to

include eight pages of text here, encompassing the organizational goals and each

department’s goals, but I want to share a summary of some of our highest level

plans for the coming year. We will:

Work with our food vendor, Bateman Community Living, to ensure our

respective strategic plans are aligned and that we select the growth plan

that best fits both organizations’ needs.

Pursue additional community partnerships and collaboration opportunities.

More regularly leverage video to highlight clients and volunteers and tell the Meals on Wheels story.

Continue to advance government advocacy – with a focus on why Meals on Wheels is so important

to the community.

Recruit 350 new volunteers and onboard 18 new “Adopt-A-Route” partners.

Undertake a volunteer retention project, to include research, recommendations and implementation

of changes.

Evaluate budgets and project plans for an outbuilding, agency roof repair, and a humidity reduction

project in our commissary cold room and work to secure grant funding related to these important

goals.

Raise $1,286,500 in total philanthropic support, including for commissary equipment.

Explore new or unused features in our fundraising software to improve processes and increase

donor engagement.

Expand Planned & Major Gifts outreach to additional audiences, including board members and

interested Meals on Wheels volunteers.

Rollout the made-without-gluten diet, which was piloted in 2017.

Review Meals on Wheels diet guidelines and make continued tweaks to specialty diets.

Explore additional diets that may be desired by our clientele.

Ensure that all locations are following guidelines and best practices to create a consistent volunteer

experience.

Meet with medical facilities and Managed Long Term Care programs to promote MOW and various

programs to help ensure people are healthy at home.

Continue “Care and Share” with clients to help connect them to other services or get them small

items that they may need through not-for-profit partnerships.

As you can see, our priorities cover a wide range of areas – all with an ultimate focus on providing the best

quality product and highest service levels to our clients. We could not provide our critical, life-saving

services without YOU. Thank you for being part of the Meals on Wheels family! I look forward to seeing all

that we can accomplish together in 2018!

Thank you,

Chris Procknal

President and Chief Executive Officer

P A G E 2

Community Partners visit, deliver with Meals on Wheels We welcomed many community

organizations throughout February!

ECC Dietetic Technicians (top-left) joined

us for a tour during meal production,

learning about the processes and

equipment in the commissary.

Leadership Buffalo (top-right) joined us for

an informative session in our Community

Center for their opening session:

a highlight on hunger & poverty.

Traveler’s Insurance (bottom-left)

delivered meals throughout Valentine’s

Day week, delivering a route at DCN,

BWY, WSC, and EBF.

Invest Buffalo Niagara (bottom-right)

delivered meals at our Broadway site, after

learning more about our program through

a presentation.

Thank you to these great organizations!

O U R C O M M U N I T Y

Buffalo Sabres, Walmart honor MOW volunteer Pat Boje The Buffalo Sabres honored Meals on Wheels for Western New York volunteer Pat Boje as one of their Walmart

Community Playmakers. In a presentation at the February 6, 2018 game against the Anaheim Ducks, the Sabres and

Walmart presented an award of recognition to Boje, acknowledging her hard work as a Meals on Wheels volunteer.

Walmart and the Buffalo Sabres organization also made a generous donation of $2,000 to the Meals on Wheels

Foundation of Western New York.

Boje volunteers 8-12 hours a week with MOW

as a front desk volunteer. She also is involved

with fundraising activities – volunteering for

Plate Expectations, the National Chicken Wing

Festival, and other foundation events.

Congratulations to Pat on being selected for this

wonderful honor!

Meals on Wheels Foundation welcomes new Board Member Jeffery Bean has been voted onto the Meals on Wheels Foundation of Western New York Board of Directors.

Bean brings expertise in business, marketing, and management to the board.

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 2

A Refresh on Cybersecurity: Password Safety Tips

Our February staff meeting featured a presentation on cybersecurty, outlining best

practices in protecting your identity and accounts in the digital age. One of the key

takeaways from this seminar was to have a strong, unique password. Here are a few

tips you can use to protect your email address and accounts:

Customer Service & Community Corner

2018 Foundation Year in Review

Total 2018 Donors: 6,792

Total New Donors: 1,635

Number of Gifts Made to the Foundation: 10,268

By The Numbers

No new colleagues have joined the MOW family

since our last newsletter.

No colleagues have left the MOW family since

our last newsletter.

Hello / Goodbye

Look for more kudos on the bulletin board at MOW!

Ashley, Justin,

Lauren, and Lisa for

helping with the

Leadership Buffalo

tours. A special thanks to

everyone who

chipped in and called

clients during March

2nd’s weather

closures.

Health and Wellness Committee Update

Congratulations to everyone who took part in our “Under Pressure”

event! The contestants who tracked their blood pressure were entered in

a drawing for Tim Horton’s gift cards. The winners were Lisa Woodring

(Foundation), Norman Kranz (Finance), and Donna Sutz (Social Work).

One more winner will be drawn at the conclusion of the event.

Throughout the month, we will be holding a Nutrition Ingredients

Challenge! Contestants in this cook-off will be given three mystery

ingredients to create a delicious and healthy dish. Our first challenge begins

the week of March 5, with each week having different key ingredients.

Good luck to all of our culinary competitors!

Employee Appreciation Day

March 2 was Employee Appreciation Day!

Throughout the day, a random drawing took

place, awarding site managers and office staff

fun prizes. We also had a staff luncheon at

the central office with pizza and salad.

We appreciate the work each and every

member of Meals on Wheels does. We hope

you enjoyed this day of celebration, brought

to you by the Employee Appreciation

Committee.

Longer passwords are stronger.

Try to use at least 12 characters.

Use upper case and lower case characters,

as well as numbers.

Change your password frequently. Use a different password for each account.

What’s Cooking? Nutrition and Delivery Update We’ve recently deployed more than $250,000 in grant

money on a variety of commissary projects. Our new combi ovens

have been installed, and new steam tables are in place. With these

upgrades, food production should become more efficient as staff

grows accustomed to the state-of-the-art equipment.

There also was a minor but exciting change—we have new lab

coats for our dietitians and for guests attending Meals on Wheels

tours.

We’re excited about the new upgrades to

our commissary. Stay tuned for more news

and notes coming next month!

Improvements within our organization are driven by the

comments and suggestions submitted by clients, volunteers, and

staff members. To serve the best meals and make serving easy

for our volunteers, we’re continually evaluating potential

adjustments to our processes and equipment.

Our commissary has undergone some dramatic changes

over the past few months. This update will outline a few of

the major upgrades that we’ve made in the last several

weeks.

Our commissary floor has a new shine, with the completed

installation of concrete flooring. With the change, the

addition of foot baths at every entrance enhances the

cleanliness of our food production area. The new flooring

plan provides a sterile environment as we feed our

potentially vulnerable neighbors.

Plate Expectations

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

at the

ADPRO Sports Training Center!

Stay tuned for ticket and volunteer info!

United Way’s Spring it On:

Western New York’s

24-Hour Fundraising Event

will be held on March 21, 2018

Save

The

Date

Flower Sale order forms

available at

www.mealsonwheelswny.org

Champions for Meals

returns

March 19 - 23, 2018

Meals on Wheels welcomes

community VIPS to deliver

meals at sites across

Western New York!

Breakfast of Hope | May 9, 2018 — Enjoy a free light breakfast and learn

more about our organization at this one

hour fundraising event.

To attend, RSVP with Lauren.