Each of us deserves to age with dignity, especially our nation’s heroes. For seniors who were members of our Armed Forces, the challenges that come with aging are often compounded with extra hurdles. Meals on Wheels of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky is committed to responding to those challenges. We are proud to serve senior veterans who have bravely served our country.
Close to half of all U.S. veterans today are age 65 or older. They make up 12 percent of our country’s senior population. The latest Census revealed senior veterans struggle with more disabilities and report worse overall health than senior non-veterans, impacting independent activities like driving and cooking.
Most of today’s senior veterans served during the Vietnam War—and Vietnam veterans face the highest prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Yet, older veterans are much less likely to seek out mental health help than their younger peers. Many senior veterans have suffered alone for decades as a result. Seniors already face more isolation than any other age group, and for seniors who served, that loneliness can be even harder to escape.
In line with our mission to promote seniors’ independence and well-being, Meals on Wheels aims to remedy the unique challenges they face by providing essential services in three key categories: nutritious meals, vital connections and protective services.
Delivering Nutrition
In the Cincinnati area, Meals on Wheels delivers nutritious meals to more than 560 at-risk veterans each week, including Michael Freland. Michael is a born-and-raised Cincinnatian. He was drafted into the Army after graduating from high school and served in Berlin for four years. Upon coming home, he worked in security, transportation and automotive sales. Today, he is in his seventies and lives on the West Side with his 10-year-old dachshund, Heidi.
Michael has been receiving Meals on Wheels since 2023. He was receiving care after an operation at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and a social worker visited to tell him about programs and services available to support him.
“I'm not the kind of person to ask for help. It was very hard,” Michael explains, pointing to a generational value of hard work and independence fostered by his parents and his grandparents. “We didn’t ask for help. We worked.”
However, he explains, the condition he was in while recovering at the hospital meant he truly needed extra support. His care team was instrumental in putting him in touch with support programs, including Meals on Wheels. “They said, ‘Just try it.’ So I did, and I like it, and it’s a great organization.”
Michael relies on Meals on Wheels to deliver nutritious food, bread, milk and a snack box every week. This is service is a true lifeline for Michael, as he lives a chronic health condition and has limited means of mobility. This health condition also limits his dietary options, and he knows he can rely on a steady selection of meals from our organization to keep him nourished and fed.
Michael lives in an apartment community and enjoys spending time outside with Heidi. But often, his Meals on Wheels driver, Craig, is among the few people he sees every week. This regular delivery gives our team an opportunity to perform a regular wellness check. Should a driver spot anything amiss, from a malfunctioning utility or a change in a senior’s health and safety, they are able to report their concern to our team to provide response.
Meals on Wheels receives critical support from Disabled American Veterans (DAV) for home-delivered meals—our flagship program. This service remedies hunger and malnutrition and enables seniors to meet fundamental health needs. By extension, the service promotes their independence and preserves their dignity as they age. DAV’s impactful support ensures senior veteran clients like Michael are guaranteed a nutritious meal delivery and accompanying wellness checks.
Creating Connection
Seniors experience loneliness in a significantly different way from other age groups. That’s especially true if they live on their own, have mobility challenges or do not have loved ones living nearby who can visit. The impact of social isolation runs deep, and veterans experience that more profoundly than others.
Meals on Wheels’ congregate meal program is designed to provide a balm to those effects. We deliver weekday meals to congregate sites, like senior centers and senior living communities, so that adults enjoy nutritious food in social environments. Our organization partners with more than 20 of these sites in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Many clients qualify for free group transportation to and from these sites as well.
We also manage the OTR Senior Center, which is the only remaining senior center in downtown Cincinnati. The environment offers more than food and provides a warm and welcoming community of older adults. Henry Smith, Jr., a veteran of the Navy, is an enrolled member of the OTR Senior Center and says he enjoys going there throughout the week.
“It always gives you a happy feeling. I just totally enjoy being here,” Henry says in a January 2026 interview with WLWT News 5 reporter Danielle Dindak (below) “For seniors, sitting at home gets kind of a little boring. [The senior center] gives us a place to go, things to do.”
For veterans, finding social connections in welcoming environments without barriers can have tremendous positive effects. Meeting new friends and having opportunities to bond—particularly with other veterans—keeps them connected to their community. At each of our partnering locations they can tap into a network of resources to further enhance their well-being and ensure their needs are met.
Providing Protection
Some of our community’s veterans need more than just a meal. Some need a home, and some need rehabilitation. Meals on Wheels partners with the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a range of solutions that respond to vets’ needs.
Through our partnership with HUD-VASH (Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing), licensed social workers with Meals on Wheels work to rehouse senior veterans who are experiencing homelessness. That includes managing their finances to ensure their rent is paid on time and keeping them in safe, affordable housing.
Cheryl Bolender, Senior Manager of Senior Services Programs at Meals on Wheels, knows firsthand how meaningful it is when this specialized housing assistance also helps veterans reengage with mental health services or receive alcohol and drug treatment.
“It’s not just a lack of money that leads to homelessness,” Bolender says.
Additional to HUD-VASH, Meals on Wheels partners with the Cincinnati VA Community Living Center. We had the opportunity to gift therapeutic robotic pets to the Center in 2024.
These innovative four-legged friends offer an alternative for those in a residence that doesn’t allow pets or for those who are unable to care for an animal. They simulate live animals with small movements and noises and can be pet and groomed, providing both fun and authentic benefits that come from caring for an animal. Staff at the Cincinnati VA Community Living Center integrated the pets into physical and occupational therapy programs.
Digital Connect Program
One of the most invaluable resources for combatting isolation is having a connection to those with similar experiences. For senior veterans, that connection is vital, and the experience of serving in the Armed Forces is something most civilians do not understand. Meals on Wheels’ Digital Connect Program and a partnership with Televeda provide an outlet for senior veterans like Robert Burns.
Robert served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He manned the naval guns from inside the turret aboard a destroyer off the coast of Japan—a visceral memory that has remained with him since returning home in 1975. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury in 2004.
Through Digital Connect, seniors like can learn digital skills and earn a tablet of their own. Robert now uses his tablet each week to log into Televeda’s veteran group, a virtual program run by vets and for vets. Here, he finds necessary relief and solace, and has discovered that sharing the pain of his experiences eases it.
“You can really tell how you feel. You can even cry,” Robert says.
Robert adds he is grateful to finally open up and connect with fellow veterans, and he wants others to find that relief too: “I just think about so many vets that have to live with these chronic conditions that nobody can see.”
To the men and women who serve our country, we at Meals on Wheels thank you for your courage and service. It is a privilege to serve our senior veteran community members with nutrition, connection and protection.