UNF's Meals on Wings Reaches 250,000 Free Meals for Jacksonville Seniors Using Surplus Hospital Food

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida's Meals on Wings program has provided and delivered 250,000 free meals to older adults in Duval County, according to a News4JAX report published Nov. 3. The program turns surplus food donated by local hospitals into ready-to-eat meals that UNF students package and deliver. It reaches about 300 seniors, who are identified through community centers, News4JAX reported.

The milestone shows how a campus program has grown into a regular source of food for homebound and low-income seniors. UNF's 2023 materials say it grew from about 20 seniors in its early years to 250 by 2021. UNF's own program page lists partner hospitals, food recovery sites and ways to volunteer or donate.

How Meals on Wings Works

According to News4JAX, local hospitals donate extra meals that would otherwise go unused. UNF students package the food in the program's kitchen, and volunteers pick it up and divide it into individual meals. Student volunteers deliver the meals three times a week.

UNF's Center for Nutrition and Food Security describes the model on its program page. Partner hospitals give surplus prepared food, student volunteers repackage it into ready-to-eat meals, and the meals go to homebound seniors in low-income areas of Northeast Florida. A 2023 UNF news release said that for every pound of food received from hospitals, the program can make about one meal.

A Delivery on Kings Road

News4JAX followed Advisory Chef Meghan Niemczyk and a student volunteer as they delivered 120 meals to 30 seniors at the Schell-Sweet Community Resource Center on Kings Road. That works out to four meals per senior for the delivery. Seniors receive the meals as a supplement to their own grocery budgets, the report said.

Catherine King, a senior without a car, told News4JAX she could usually buy only what she could carry, saying, "I wouldn't be able to buy a lot." Marie Heath, the center's director, called the meals "a supplement" that lets seniors save money on food. Mildred Flagg said she likes the vegetables and chicken, which help her make healthier choices.

By the Numbers

The program's page lists "over 225,000" meals delivered, a figure that appears to predate the 250,000 milestone reported this week. Counting from the 100,000-meal announcement in January 2023, the program has added roughly 150,000 meals in under four years. Both figures are reported here so readers can see the difference between the two sources.

Who Supplies the Food

UNF's program page lists Baptist Health, Brooks Rehabilitation, Ascension, Mayo Clinic and UF Health as hospital partners. Food recovery sites on the page include Brooks Rehabilitation in Bartram, Mayo Clinic, the UNF Osprey Cafe, HCA Memorial Hospital, Panera Bread and FSCJ's culinary and hospitality program. Sponsors listed include Baptist Health, the DuBow Family Foundation, the Simply Healthcare Foundation, United Way and Vicars Landing, among others.

The program's start date varies by source. UNF's program page says it launched in 2018, a 2023 UNF release says it was developed in 2017, and News4JAX reported a 2019 start. All three place its origins in the late 2010s.

Why the Program Matters

UNF's January 2023 announcement said nearly 1 in 12 seniors face food insecurity and that malnutrition in older adults costs more than $51.3 billion in U.S. health care each year. Dr. Curt Lox, dean of UNF's Brooks College of Health, said then that the program has "a direct positive impact on the health of older adults." Those figures were reported in 2023 and have not been updated in the sources reviewed.

In 2023, UNF announced that Humana was funding an expansion of the model to the University of Kentucky and Lehman College in New York. UNF administers the grant and provides toolkits for the other programs, according to the release. Kentucky was to serve more than 100 seniors in subsidized housing, and Lehman 30 seniors in the Bronx.

What Comes Next and How to Help

News4JAX reported that Niemczyk hopes to create a community kitchen at UNF offering cooking classes and healthy-eating instruction. She also leads cooking classes through the program now. The report did not give a timeline or cost for the kitchen.

Monetary donations are the best way to help, according to News4JAX, which directs readers to search "Meals on Wings" at UNF.edu. UNF students can volunteer through the program's GivePulse page or Osprey Impact, and questions go to [email protected]. The article did not list formal eligibility rules for receiving meals, saying only that seniors are identified through community centers.