It is recommended that seniors drink at least eight 8oz glasses of water each day. Unfortunately, recently collected data shows that 87% of Meals On Wheels of Tampa recipients drink less than this recommended amount even though 94% reported that they believe drinking water is important to their health.
Meals On Wheels of Tampa’s High School Leadership Board (HSLB) developed and introduced this program on May 21 2016, to encourage healthy hydration. The student led group, which is comprised of Junior and Senior students from local high schools, raised funds to provide reusable water tumblers and educational materials to all 800+ seniors and homebound served by Meals On Wheels of Tampa.
2016-2017 HSLB President, Maggie Fitzsimmons, was honored to receive the Lightning Community Heroes of Tomorrow award after the introduction of this program.
Please take a couple minutes to watch the video and read the article!
Thanks to the generosity from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program, WOW! transitioned to recipients receiving free water along with their hot meal delivery throughout 2017.
Today, all of our recipients continue to receive a free 8oz bottle of water with each hot meal delivered, thanks to support from Bank of America Charitable Foundation.
This program is a vital component to our 43-year old mission of nourishing, enriching and strengthening the independent lives of seniors and homebound, because seniors are more at risk of dehydration. Delivering a serving of water each day not only eliminates the barriers to accessing water but it also serves as reminder to stay hydrated.
Through our partnership with Bank of America we are able to encourage healthy hydration among Meals on Wheels of Tampa’s 800+ senior and homebound recipients.
If you are interested in helping us fund the WOW! program in the future, please contact Kristin at K.Maximo@MOWTampa.org.