Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels and Much Much More

What it reported doing in 2024

HOME DELIVERED MEALS PROGRAM - FORT BEND AND WALLER COUNTY: Fort Bend Seniors' (FBS) goal is to promote better health for eligible homebound older adults by providing nutritious home-delivered meals.See Schedule OClients must be 60 years of age or older and score a minimum of 20 on the Department of Aging and Disabilities Assessment. Eligibility is based on an assessment of impairment in the ability to perform activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living; frequency of a person leaving their home or needing assistance to do so; ability to prepare nutritious meals and shop for food, their nutritional risk, and financial resources available to the senior. Services are provided at no cost to the client.CASE MANAGEMENT - FBS provides individual assessments by a trained and degreed case manager to determine seniors' needs in the areas of social services, nutrition, and health care. Once an assessment is completed, FBS staff arrange for the appropriate services to be delivered and provide follow-up reviews to ensure needs are being met. Through case management, participants are assessed for the following services: home-delivered meals, nutrition education, needs assessment, and appropriate referral to other services.HOME DELIVERED MEALS - The meals meet at least 1/3 of the recommended daily allowance of nutrients required by adults. Since the pandemic began, FBS has provided seven meals per week, which include up to four hot, nutritious meals on Monday through Thursday, and three frozen meals delivered on Thursday for the meals on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. FBS also provides homebound clients with a frozen holiday meal on or before the actual day of the holiday. Depending on the client's needs for medical appointments or geographic location, specific clients receive a once-a-week delivery with one hot meal and the remainder frozen. These clients are contacted a minimum of two additional times per week to ensure they are healthy, consuming their meals, and have access to a microwave to heat their meals properly. Seniors interested in receiving services can contact Fort Bend Seniors' headquarters toll-free at 1-800-643-9654.EMERGENCY SHELF STABLE MEALS - Emergency shelf stable meals are meals with a shelf life of one year that are delivered to seniors for use when home delivery is unavailable due to emergency weather conditions. FBS provides five emergency shelf meals for each client to use during inclement weather when the agency is unable to deliver to clients safely. VOLUNTEERS - Volunteers, part-time staff drivers, and site coordinators are responsible for the daily delivery of the meals. When volunteers deliver the meals, it reduces the operational cost for meal delivery, enabling us to purchase more meals to serve seniors. Meals are delivered directly to the participants or an authorized caregiver. The Meals on Wheels program is more than just a meal delivery. Through our trained staff and volunteers, a homebound senior receives a warm smile, a safety check to help ensure they are well, and any other needs that are identified, such as nutritional education, may be addressed.HOME DELIVERED OUTCOMES: In 2024, FBS delivered 370,787 meals to 1,721 homebound eligible senior citizens in Fort Bend and Waller Counties. Each week, Fort Bend Seniors welcomed new clients to the program. Of the 1,721 home-delivered clients served over the course of 2024, 60 percent lived alone or with their elderly spouse; 18 percent were veterans or surviving spouses of veterans; and 66 percent represented minority populations, primarily African American and Hispanic. Through our annual satisfaction survey of the Home Delivered Meal Clients, we have confirmed that the Meals on Wheels program 1) promotes better health for homebound elderly through improved nutrition and 2) alleviates the isolation and improves the mental health of the homebound elderly through the daily visits during meal delivery.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 77.1%; rating input score 77
• Program expense ratio: 77.5%; rating input score 78
• Fundraising efficiency: $10.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 1.4%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.32; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.4%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings