1973—The Governor’s Smith County Committee on Aging
conducted a study to determine how the community could best
care for senior citizens.  They enlisted the assistance of the Ministerial
Alliance.  After some study and discussion, it was decided a major problem for
senior citizens was inadequate nutrition.  They felt many of the elderly could
continue living independently in their own home instead of going to a nursing home if
they had help with their meal preparation.  A Steering Committee was appointed to
examine the best way for the community to solve this problem.  The Committee wrote to
and visited cities that had Meals on Wheels programs.  Some cities provided only home-
delivered meals, and others, with help from federal funding, had Senior Centers where those
able to do so could enjoy fellowship and get a balanced meal for a small donation.  It was also determined that the organization needed to be incorporated, so necessary papers were drawn up, and the service was given the name of “Meals on Wheels Ministry, Inc.” (MOWM). There were four sponsoring groups:  the Tyler Ministerial Alliance, the East Texas Hospital Foundation, the Smith County Area Health Council, and the Governor’s Council on Aging.  The Steering Committee was carefully chosen with at least one representative from each of the sponsoring groups, plus several representatives from the community including a doctor, an attorney, a banker, a dietician, and varied business people.  The Steering Committee served as the first Board of Directors of the Corporation.  Officers elected were:   Reverend Richard Ziglar of First Christian Church, President; Welby C. Edwards, Vice President; Mrs. Lemuel Hutchins, Secretary; and Ralph Cates, Treasurer.  Other Board Members included Rabbi Kalman Taxon, Mr. and Mrs. D. K. Huffman, Dr. Chester Vaughn, A. G. Hilliard, Mrs. John Sawyer, David Turman, George Pearson, and Tom Pollard.  The first meal was delivered on October 15, 1973.  There were 30 recipients chosen from the original 45 screened applicants.  Laura Sebastian, age 97, received the first meal delivered by Mrs. Hershel Sobol, volunteer.  Meals were purchased from Wyatt’s Cafeteria on Beckham in Tyler.  Later, Verna Carlton became the first paid coordinator. 

1975—David Turman became the second Board President.  During this time, Meals on Wheels (MOW) began to receive federal funding through the Older American’s Act to open a center with a kitchen to provide both congregate and homebound meals.  The site chosen was Ross Avenue Christian Church, which is now University Christian Church.  The kitchen was used for preparation and congregate meals were served in the Fellowship Hall.  The first Executive Director, Lucille Byrd, was hired during this time.  About two years later, the site was changed to the old fire station on Gentry Parkway.

1979—Funding from the Older American’s Act and a Community Development Block Grant were combined to build the Senior Citizens Center on Garden Valley Road.  The City of Tyler operated the Senior Center while MOW had offices, a central kitchen, and a dining room in half of the building.

1983—An average of 450 meals were served each day. 

1985— MOW assisted other communities in Smith and Wood Counties in starting similar programs.  Lucille Byrd resigned as Director, and Michael Donnelly was hired.  Mr. Donnelly, Executive Director from 1985 to 1989, oversaw the expansion into Camp County and the creation of  Senior Circuit, an extension of MOW that provided additional support services to help seniors remain independent and living in their own homes as long as possible.  Mr. Donnelly and Betty Burchfeld directed this extension, which provided services such as residential repairs, in-home nursing care, light housekeeping, free legal advice, and, in some cases, legal representation provided by Donald Yarborough.  

1987—The average daily total of meals served was 900. 

1989—In November, Mr. Donnelly resigned to take a job with AARP in Dallas and Mike Powell was hired as Executive Director.  Mr. Powell came to MOW from the Area Agency on Aging of East Texas in Kilgore where he served as Contract Manager for a 14-county region (the same job Mr. Donnelly left to come to MOW in 1985). 

1993—MOW continued to experience steady growth.  Federal funding was cut by $50,000, despite the increasing elderly population.  MOW successfully turned to the communities served to help make up the shortfalls.  At this time, the MOW kitchen in Tyler prepared 308,339 meals annually.  Of these, 180,961 were delivered to homebound, while 127,378 were served at the congregate sites.  An average of 1,225 meals per day was served in three counties.  MOW continued to help in other counties where no programs adequately met the nutritional needs of the elderly.

1996—MOW was asked to assume administrative and meal preparation responsibilities for Henderson and Van Zandt counties.  They also began preparing meals on a contractual basis to help defray overhead costs.  Contracted meals were provided for the City of Big Sandy Senior Nutrition Program, City of Hawkins Senior Nutrition Program, Tyler Adult Day Care, and the Lighthouse for the Blind.  Because of continued growth, a 2,000-square foot warehouse was added onto the City of Tyler Senior Center kitchen with funding provided by the Area Agency on Aging of East Texas and a City of Tyler Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).  With these additional serving areas, MOW was serving five counties and operated Senior Centers in 27 communities.  Over 35 communities received some type of meal service and an average of 1,654 meals was served per day. 

1998—MOW formally assumed administrative and meal preparation responsibilities for the City of Big Sandy and the City of Hawkins Senior Nutrition Programs.  Contract meals continued to expand with the addition of MOW of Palestine (serving Anderson, Cherokee, and Rusk counties), Goodwill, and Encasa Adult Day Care.  By the end of 1998, MOW was serving five counties and operated Senior Centers in 31 communities.  Over 40 communities received some type of meal service and an average of 1,850 meals was served per day.

1999—MOW assumed administrative and meal preparation responsibilities for the Rains County Senior Nutrition Program, which operated primarily in the City of Emory.  This meant that MOW was now serving six counties and operated Senior Centers in 32 communities.  Over 42 communities received some type of meal service and an average of 1,900 meals per day was served.  The already overloaded kitchen operation was further strained by this addition. 

2001—In March, MOW was contacted on a Friday afternoon by the Area Agency on Aging of East Texas  They requested the assistance of MOW because the agency providing meals for Gregg, Harrison, Panola, and Upshur counties had filed for bankruptcy.  They would not be able to provide meals the following Monday for more than 600 clients in these four counties.  The decision to help was quickly made despite the additional strain it would put on the MOW kitchen.  The Board of Directors felt that if MOW did not step in, these people would not be fed.  Because of the outstanding efforts of Diane Duitch, Director of Food Service, and her kitchen staff, MOW was able to meet the needs of these four counties on that Monday.  Eventually, MOW permanently assumed administrative and meal preparation responsibilities for these four counties.  During this period, the decision was also made to discontinue the contract to provide food for MOW of Palestine.  MOW was serving 10 counties and operated Senior Centers in 39 communities.  Over 55 communities received some type of meal service and an average of 2, 321 meals was served per day.Because of continued growth, the MOW Board conducted a feasibility study to determine if funding could be raised to construct a new kitchen and administrative offices.  Spurred on by a $ 1,000,000+ gift from volunteer and Board Member, Joanne McKinney, and her husband Wayne , the decision was made to begin the “More Than a Meal" Capital Campaign.  The goal was to raise $5,000,000.  This would pay for construction, fund operations for the next three years, and, hopefully, create a $1,000,000 endowment.  The results of these efforts are what you see today.  MOW will have reached and exceeded its goal when all pledges are received.  MOW is now positioned to deal with the rapidly increasing elderly population now and well into the future.

2004—During the year, MOW provided 687,644 meals!  Of this total, 147,343 meals were provided in Senior Centers and 540,301 meals were delivered to homebound elderly and disabled persons in East Texas.  Even more exciting is the contribution that volunteers make daily by delivering meals.  In 2004, volunteers gave more than 75,000 hours of service and drove their vehicles over 180,000 miles delivering meals.  This saved MOW in excess of $500,000 in salaries and at least $65,000 in vehicle operation costs!

Currently—MOW is serving over 3,000 meals per day and the service area encompasses Smith, Gregg, Upshur, Wood, Van Zandt and Henderson counties.  Anyone, regardless of income, who is 60 or older, homebound, and unable to prepare meals is eligible to receive home-delivered meals.  Volunteers in each county provide the “wheels" and make daily deliveries.  In addition to delivering nutritious meals to homebound senior citizens, MOW provides daily safety checks on these individuals.  The organization collaborates with other agencies to perform basic home repair or modifications and provides a low-cost Ensure purchase program.  MOW is currently assisting People Attempting to Help (P.A.T.H.) by providing a location for them to operate their “Brown Bag" food program while their building undergoes renovation.  The Frail Elderly Assistance Program (FEAP), funded by the Junior League of Tyler, was also created to help with one-time needs such as fans in the summer, prescriptions, eyeglass repair and replacement, hearing aids, and utility assistance.