CINCINNATI — Pioneering philanthropist and award-winning author MacKenzie Scott (formerly Bezos) today announced that she donated $4 million to Meals on Wheels Southwest OH & Northern KY. The gift is part of her philanthropy through The Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world's wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to giving back.
“We could never fully express our gratitude for MacKenzie Scott’s generosity. Her thoughtful and trust-based approach to philanthropy will enable our team to magnify this gift in so many ways,” said Jennifer Steele, CEO of Meals on Wheels Southwest OH & Northern KY. “It will catalyze innovative, creative and collaborative initiatives to meet the needs of seniors in our local community and create change on a larger scale. Together with our sustaining donors and funders, whose support and partnership have been so critical to our efforts to serve seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic, this gift will have a deep and lasting impact on our organization and community. It is truly transformational.”
“After my post in July, I asked a team of advisors to help me accelerate my 2020 giving through immediate support to people suffering the economic effects of the crisis. They took a data-driven approach to identifying organizations with strong leadership teams and results, with special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital,” Scott wrote in her December 15, 2020 Medium post.
Learn more about this transformational gift here: “384 Ways to Help.”
Steele said that she has a lot of ideas for how to put the gift to use.
“Receiving this gift is such an honor. I’m thrilled that we’ll be able to immediately expand our partnership with Food Forest and others in bringing grocery and meal delivery to those who have been left behind in the technology and delivery revolution. This divide has become all the more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we began to receive calls early on from seniors who said that they could not compete in the physical store environment or navigate online grocery ordering without a little help. This collaboration rights an important ship within the disruption, strengthening local food systems and providing caring and intentional online grocery delivery for seniors and those living in communities without access to affordable, accessible delivery options,” said Steele. “This gift will also enable us to deeply impact disparities in existing services for seniors—including gender disparities impacting both men and women differently—through a human-centered approach in which those impacted will have a voice in the solutions.”
“The crisis in aging is a train barreling towards our community, and this gift will allow us to accelerate progress and infrastructure to meet future needs in so many ways alongside our long-term supporters, partners and volunteers,” said Steele. “We will need them more than ever.”