Here in the U.S., we like to idealize the holiday season as a time for merriment, family and feasting. While most of us, including Ira Riklis, realize that reality often falls short of this ideal.
But even he was shocked some years ago when he learned of the plight of New York City’s poor, elderly and homebound residents. Largely invisible to most of us, the elderly poor make up a rapidly growing segment of our population. Many have limited mobility, few relatives or friends and household incomes of less than $10,000 a year.
For nearly thirty years now, an organization called Citymeals On-Wheels has been working to make the lives of these people a little better by providing meals delivered to their homes. The organization was founded in 1981 after Gael Greene and James Beard read an article about homebound elderly New Yorkers with little to eat on weekends and holidays.
They rallied friends, including Ira Riklis to raise funds to supplement a government-funded weekday meal delivery program. The program now serves 18,000 people with nutritious meals and human contact every day.