Making a Difference Locally: The Senior Hunger Coalition

Dr. Shannon O. WilderDirector, UGA Office of Service-Learning

October 15, 2013

By the Numbers: Over 6500 students enrolled in 350 course sections.

Courses in all 17 schools & colleges and 25% of study abroad programs

More than 215,000 service hours provided by students, equivalent to $4.3 million donated to local and international communities

Service-learning engages students with core aspects of UGA’s mission—teaching and service.

Georgia is—• 8th in the nation for older adults

at risk of hunger• By 2030, Georgia’s aging

population is expected to rise 21.2% (2.5 million people)

In Athens-Clarke County—• 1 in 5 (20.4%) residents are

food insecure – 9% of residents aged 50 and older

• By 2030, ACC will experience a 41% growth in residents aged 65 and older.

Athens Community Council on Aging

• 14 Programs• 7500 clients served per year• Delivers 300 home-delivered

meals per day• Serves 12 counties in NE Georgia

UGA research revealed an overall food insecurity rate of 40% among ACCA programs:• Meals on Wheels – 36%• Center for Active Living – 32%• Grandparents Raising

Grandchildren – 60%

“It was haunting to think so many of our clients could be silently suffering from hunger. We knew our clients were in need. And that need far exceeded our agency’s resources and capacity. Something needed to

be done, but we couldn’t do it alone. So we turned to UGA.” Eve Anthony, COO Athens Community Council on Aging

Senior Hunger Coalition goals are to—

• Raise awareness of senior hunger in the Athens community

• Identify older adults who are food insecure using standardized measurements

• Create innovative, sustainable, cost-effective, and research driven interventions.

• Form multi-sector partnerships with the shared goal of ending senior hunger

Senior Hunger Coalition Partners

Campus Kitchen at UGA

Office of Service-LearningDepartment of Foods & Nutrition

Talmage Terrace/Lanier Gardens Senior Living Community – Wesley Woods

Senior Hunger Coalition Programs

• Lunch Buddy • Georgia Café SNAP application

assistance program• Take Out Tuesday • Mobile Pantry distributes 10,000

pounds of food to 225 older adult households with mobility barriers

• Summer Food Program • Weekly UGArden Mobile Produce

Stand and Cooking Demos• Onsite ACCA Community Gardens &

Garden Club

Senior Hunger Coalition’s Impact (2010-13)• Engaged nearly 400 students in 26 service-learning courses• Distributed 11,000 meals and 80,000 pounds of food to 375

individuals in the local community• Provided supplemental food to 80 clients on the home-delivered

meals waiting list• Saved ACCA nearly $100,000 by providing an additional 13,000

meals for less than $5,000 in direct cost.• Created a model adopted by the State Unit on Aging to conduct

outcomes research and determine the effectiveness of nutrition and aging services in Georgia.

• Filled gap from federal sequestration funding loss to provide 2500 additional meals at a savings of $20,000.

Food insecurity rate dropped 40% across all ACCA programs

Grandparents Raising

Grandchildren

Meals on Wheels

Center for Active Living

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

20102013

Food Insecurity

Rate

ACCA Program

60%

33% 36%6%

32%

3%

Thank you for your support of service-learning at UGA!

Follow us on Facebook For more information:

Dr. Shannon WilderDirector

Office of Service-LearningThe University of Georgia

swilder@uga.edu706-542-0535

www.servicelearning.uga.edu

www.facebook.com/UGAservicelearning