Paul Downey shares his 30 years of experience as a recognized leader in the Senior Nutrition Program network on this podcast. Hear his advice on proven approaches for marketing the congregate meal program to baby boomers, serving seniors experiencing homelessness, and leveraging social media to support nutrition program efforts. Paul also shares his current advocacy efforts to prevent senior homelessness as well as effective fundraising approaches to meet the needs and interests of today's older adults.

Links to learn more about Serving Seniors projects and the activities Paul discussed:

www.servingseniors.org

https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2024/05/15/with-inflation-squeezing-older-adults-serving-seniors-fights-food-insecurity/

https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2024/08/15/san-diegos-economy-stronger-thanks-to-nonprofit-contributions/

https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2024/04/09/turning-people-without-a-roof-over-their-heads-into-criminals-will-not-end-homelessness/

https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2023/08/17/senior-centers-and-healthy-activities-can-help-older-adults-avoid-homelessness/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLntx-3jslc

In this engaging episode, Bob interviews professor Nandita Chaudhury from Texas A&M. As project director of two ACL grants, she has trained and developed resources for senior nutrition programs interested in modernizing their congregate meal sites. Listen to this podcast and learn about:

*low cost meal site modernization ideas

*making meal sites appealing to current and future populations

*measuring impact on nutrition, socialization and health

*resources to help YOUR senior nutrition program

To find out more:

ppri.tamu.edu/DINE

ppri.tamu.edu/tcmi

Learning Collaborative meetings are posted before they occur on the website. The recordings are also posted for later review by anyone under resources.

Get updated on the latest and greatest in congregate dining!

In this episode, Bob interviews two ACL Innovation in Nutrition grantees - Tasha Romo from Humboldt County Senior Services, CA and Derek Anderson from AgeSpan, MA - about their exciting approaches to reaching both rural and urban seniors, including those from immigrant communities and those who live in remote areas without existing meal sites.

Tasha and Derek share their program successes:

• Helping local businesses recover from pandemic losses in sales
• To date, data shows these programs are reducing food insecurity and loneliness
• Customer satisfaction is "through the roof"
• Restaurants and cafes are attracting younger seniors
• Pop-up sites help serve areas away from existing nutrition sites and that also do not have local grocery stores

And, their challenges:

• Higher than anticipated attendance, exceeding goals of original grant (a good problem to have!) Addressing this by expanding partnerships and fundraising.
• Food costs. Addressing this by working closely with dietitians to develop menus that are cost effective, culturally appropriate and meet the nutrition requirements.

Resources for cafes, restaurant and pop-up meal sites can be found at the Nutrition & Aging Resource Center::

Looking to Innovate Section - Grantee Spotlight, Capstone Projects, and more.

Restaurant Section- Restaurant Toolkit, Iowa's Cafe, Working with Grocery Stores, and more.

Join this fascinating discussion about going beyond satisfaction surveys to demonstrate the impacts of your meal program. Seanna Marceaux, Chief Strategy and Impact Officer of Meals on Wheels of Central Texas, explains how taking just a few extra minutes of time can give you results that will impress your funders and expand community buy-in for your services.

And, for more details, check out Seanna’s highly rated Nutrition and Aging Resource Center webinar called Placing the 'Value' in Evaluation: Practical Tips for Measuring Impact.

Join us to hear from expert Dr. Alison Steiber, Chief Science Officer at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, as she and Bob talk about how complex older adult malnutrition can be, innovative collaborations between meal programs and hospitals, and how our programs can receive reimbursement for nutrition counseling by dietitians.

Our conversation includes the importance of advocating for the federal Medical Nutrition Therapy Act and how that relates to the upcoming reauthorization of the Older Americans Act.

Our host, Bob Blancato, interviews Pam VanKampen from Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources (GWAAR). Pam is a gold mine of great information and resources about older adult malnutrition, an important issue for Senior Nutrition Programs, and a required element to address in State and Area Plans on Aging.

Learn about free resources you can use in your nutrition program and exciting work GWAAR and their local nutrition programs are piloting - screening for malnutrition and providing person-centered nutrition resources and services.

Go to the Nutrition & Aging Resource Center at https://acl.gov/senior-nutrition to find everything you need to know about this important topic and much more!