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going to like a nursing home?

- I think so.

Some people, their entire

existence is what went on inside

that household, as their

families grew up and grew out.

Some of the people we serve

have been in their houses

since they first got married.

They still have the

markings of the doorframes

where their kids were

six and seven years old,

and then 14 years old,

and then you see some

of their grandkids

listed there as well.

It's a measurement of

success for their own life

that they get to stay there,

because this is what they

worked for their entire life,

that's what they paid

for their entire life.

And don't tell them that they

don't belong in their own homes.

- There have been a number

of studies that have looked

at older adults that have moved

into assisted living facilities,

senior nursing homes,

and once the move is made

and they move out of their

own home, and they are now

kind of separated

from their community,

from their neighborhood,

from their neighbors,

from the familiarity

of their surroundings,

their health usually declines

very rapidly, very quickly.

- If we look at the aging

population, Marin County

right now, we're over 20%

that are 60 years or older.

That number is gonna

continue to rise,

and it's not going

down anytime soon.

People are living longer.

Now people are living to be 95.

We have people that are 100

years old that we're serving.

Marin County, it's

very affluent,

and it's known for its wealth.

And I was coming to an area

where people were about

to lose their home-delivered

meals services,

which meant that these

same people that lived

in this affluent area

would start going hungry.

It had nothing to do with

the person that lived

in the three million dollar

home compared to the person

that lived in Section 8 housing.

It had to do with the

fact that this person

can't walk up and down

stairs to get their own mail.

They don't have a

driver's license.

How can you expect that person

to go to a grocery store

and bring home a

sack of groceries?

- Our country has

not necessarily

looked at the seniors

in a graceful way,

but I think we have,

we all hold some kind of

responsibility for saying

that senior today

is very different

than one 30, 40 years

ago in this country.

It really is unbelievable that

a country as rich as ours,

that we even have anybody

hungry in this country.

(knocking on door)

- [Victor] Mr. Graves.

- [Mr. Graves] Hi, how are you?

- [Victor] I'm doing well,

how are you doing today?

- Well, I'm pretty good.

Do you wanna come in, please?

- [Victor] Sure, sure.

How's everything going for you?

- Well, I just got

home from the hospital,

so I was over there

for a day or two.

The reason I thought someone

was knocking at the door,

I had one of the people

who delivers food to me,

and he's due here about now.

But he'll knock,

because he's due here.

- Everything that I do, as

long as I've ever done it,

the people that I work

with are very close to me

and very dear to me.

You got some milk that's

expiring today, Don.

I'm gonna take it

out of here for you.

- What's that?

- [Victor] You've got some

milk that's expiring today,

so I'm gonna take

it out for you.

- Okay, don't take too much,

because I don't have

anything to replace it.

- [Victor] You've

got six in there.

I just put two more in there.

So you've got six

in there right now.

- Fine, fine, fine.

- [Victor] I'll try

to bring us some more.

- I watch that very

closely, I must tell you.

- Definitely, from the

beginning, from day one,

since I got here, it's

been more than just a job.

It's been something

that I'm supposed to do.

- Come on in.

Let me let you sit down here,

because it's rude for you

to come here and not

have any place to sit.

- [Victor] Oh, that's okay.

I just think we're

appreciative that you

let us come in here today.

- Why, sure, of course.

- There's a lot of people

in America that are hungry.

If we can feed them

all, we should.

I believe we can.

- I used to have a memory

like you can't believe it.

I'm now 81, and I

notice a big difference.

- Being that you're

81, and Meals on Wheels

delivers food to you everyday,

and it's something that

helps you keep going.

- Yes, when they told me

that I was going to

get Meals on Wheels,

I said, I'll see how that works.

And it's been working.

And when I become

short of something,

I tell them about it,

and it seems to get done.

- We get our funding through

a grant, partial grant,

that comes through the

Older Americans Act.

And we base that to be

about 63 to 65% of what

our expectant cost is going

to be for each meal served.

In there, there's still the gap.

There's still, you know,

35 to 40% that we need

to figure out how to cover,

so we ask for a contribution

from all the recipients

for each meal we serve.

If they can help us out, great.

It really does mean a lot.

Most of them can't

contribute though.

We have fundraisers

that we put on.

We try to bring in

additional money that way.

We plead for outside

donation support.

And we apply for

additional grants.

- There are 5,000 Meals

on Wheels programs

in the United States.

You can't feed

people with no money.

So we have to raise

all this money to feed

the six million seniors

who are going hungry.

We think of ourselves as the

voice for hungry seniors.

They have nobody else

to talk for them.

We go to Capital Hill, and we

try to get the message across

that there are Americans

in this country

who are 60 years

of age and older,

who are going hungry, in this,

the richest nation on Earth.

- This one program helps them

stay alive and independent.

And it costs a heck of

a lot less to keep them

in their home with a once

a day delivery of food,

than it does to put them into

a skilled nursing facility.

And that's the

part that kills me.

- [Seth] Thank you very much.

- Okay, all right.

- [Victor] Thank you.

Great to see you again.

- And I appreciate

everything you've done.

- Thank you.

(bleeping)

Patricia, hi, good afternoon.

It's Victor with

Marin Meals on Wheels.

It's about 3:
40 right now.

I wanted to give you a call,

let you know I'm trying

to deliver your meals,

but there's no

answer at the door.

And same thing

happened on Tuesday.

Would you please

give us a call back,

let us know you're okay?

It's 415-507-4300.

And when you give us a call

back, please also let us know

when we can reschedule

your meal delivery for.

Thank you, again,

it's 415-507-4300.

You know, we'll

leave that message.

I train all my drivers to

leave a message like that,

or one that's at least similar.

And usually we'll go

back later on the day,

on our way back

towards the office.

Swing by if we hear from them.

If not, then we'll bring

them an extra meal tomorrow

or something like that.

But, every once in a while, the

person simply is not around.

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