Storm put Meals on Wheels deliveries to 5,000 Houston-area seniors on ice

Charly Edsitty Image
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Meals on Wheels in need of donations after winter storm
More than 5,000 seniors in the Houston area were kept from getting warm food they need from Meals on Wheels due to last week's storm. The dilemma only illuminated one overall need that the organization is calling on others to help them with.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As Texas continues to recover from the deadly winter storms, Interfaith Ministries is working to make sure 5,000 seniors throughout the Houston area and Galveston continue to have meals to eat.

"I'm just taking it day by day," said Elizabeth Pennington, who lives in the Heights.

Pennington is a recipient of the Meals on Wheels program, which delivered thousands of meals and emergency food boxes to seniors in the days before the storm.

The storm disrupted power and water along with shutting down many roads across Houston due to ice.

Inside Pennington's home, the temperature quickly dropped when she lost power.

"It got to where it was 40 degrees inside the house," she said.

Thankfully, she was able to stay with her brother and wait for her power to turn back on, but now, her concern is over how much she will be charged for her next utility bill.

"I'm very nervous about that just because I know once the lights turned back on, just to turn the thermostat to 60 to warm the house back up, it ran constantly for two days," she said.

Deliveries are back on track for Meals on Wheels after being forced to shut down for several days due to the storm.

The "shelf-stable" and non-perishable meals provided to seniors proved to be life-saving nourishment as many were left without power to cook their food.

"Before the storm came, we provided winter storm meal boxes," said Martin Cominsky, president and CEO of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston.

The need right now is for more monetary donations, so the food supply can keep going.

To donate, visit the Interfaith Ministries website.

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