Super Bowl LVI

Fast fact: Super Bowl Sunday is the second-busiest food day of the year behind Thanksgiving. More food is consumed during the game and the hours leading up to it than Christmas, Easter or July 4, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. We're talking 1.33 billion chicken wings, $2.77 billion worth of potato chips and $2.25 billion worth of tortilla chips. And, of course, more pizza is ordered on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year.

So with the Bengals taking on the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI, we saw it as a perfect opportunity to partner with the Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation by Kroger and get in front of a national audience to talk about the issues of senior hunger. Our CEO Jennifer Steele and Chief Giving Officer Kat Steiner are in Los Angeles, talking with the media, government officials and corporate officers about how they can help.

"We're one of the largest Meals on Wheels in the country, and one of the largest nonprofit organizations in Cincinnati and our region," says Steele. "For us to be in Los Angeles alongside Kroger to talk about senior hunger relief and highlight some of the innovative ways we're dealing with it just makes a lot of sense. And it's not just Cincinnati. This is an issue on a national scale and with a national impact, and we are leading the way."

Steele is also a member of the Board of Directors of Meals on Wheels America, the organization's national body.

Below will be a compliation of some of their efforts and activities. Follow their activity on social media, as well, with the hashtags #MuchMoreThanASuperBowl, #MOWdey and #ZeroHungerZeroWaste.

A Love Letter to Cincinnati
From Our CEO

Dear Cincinnati,

I have loved you my whole life.

It’s not just because the Bengals are about to win the Super Bowl. I opened my eyes and drew a breath for the first time in Good Samaritan Hospital. I walked into my first day of school at Carson Elementary. I stayed with you when friends left for college or to start families in other places. 

When I ask people where they went to school, I mean high school. When I say “Please?” obviously I’m asking someone to repeat themselves. I live on the other side of the river, but my heart is always true.                          

(Me on the Uncle Al Show – got to ride the birthday carousel!)

And now, everyone sees how amazing you are! You are America’s Sweetheart today, Cincinnati, and everyone is cheering you on. I wish that everyone who lives in our town could be with me in LA right now – except that they’d be missing such a magical time at home, too, when you are so full of electricity and excitement and possibility.

We were greeted by shouts of “Welcome Cincinnati!” as our plane full of Bengals fans arrived yesterday at LAX, with people filming the sea of orange, black and “Who Dey”! on their cell phones. A native Californian showed me her Bengals manicure with such pride in a store yesterday. People stop me on the streets of LA in my Cincinnati shirt, and tell me that they’re rooting for you. The Uber driver was a fan. You are everyone’s city right now, and the Bengals are America’s team.

(Repping the 513 at the Cincinnati Media Center with our detail as Bob Herzog’s Good Morning Cincinnati
Dance Party Friday revival backup dancers … or security for the Mayor and Governor’s press conference – you decide.)

The whole world loves you.

Mayor Pureval raved about you during a press conference at the Game Day Cincinnati Media Center yesterday, as I sat alongside leaders from every sector of our state and region: Governor DeWine, REDI Cincinnati, ArtsWave, the Cincinnati Experience, and our partners Zero Hunger Zero Waste by Kroger. He shared how full of excitement and potential you are, how you have been galvanized by the Bengals: a team so bold and confident, “a team of destiny.”

You have world class arts and parks, one of the country’s leading Children’s hospitals, innovative businesses, and a quality of life that can’t be beat for the value. You have Cincinnati chili, and goetta, and things that other people just can’t quite understand but that are awesome nonetheless! You are beautiful, you are unique, you are special. You have nonprofits dedicated to making the world a better place, and a community of people who CARE.

(With Cincinnati Mayor Pureval, left, and Ohio Governor Mike and First Lady Fran Dewine.)

Finding the words to express these things isn’t always easy. My Love Language is Acts of Service – I show that I care by always loyally supporting you, by doing things to help you, by trying to make you even better. Dedicating myself to Meals on Wheels of Southwest OH & Northern KY is how I throw my arms around the city. 

But even when words fail, Who Dey is the universal language of love. It’s the aloha of our region, a hello and a goodbye. It’s a verbal high five, an audible hug. Who Dey is a celebration, it is HOPE. It’s how we tell someone, “I know you, I see you.” We’re in this together.

We’re all on the same team.

We are all Bengals fans today. We are all Cincinnatians in our hearts. 

I am yours, Cincinnati. It IS us!

Love,

Jen

#MuchMoreThanASuperBowl

Jordan Cornette of ESPN interviews MOW CEO Jennifer Steele and Vanessa Rosales of Kroger about senior hunger, the innovative projects we are involved with and the partnership between the two organizations.

Having fun while getting it done

Our CEO, Jennifer Steele, and Chief Giving Officer, Kat Steiner, made sure they documented Cincinnati's presence during Super Bowl Week in Los Angeles.