Maine’s Nutrition Services Program provides more than just a meal. Staff and volunteers at Maine’s five Area Agencies on Aging provide delicious, nutritionally balanced meals at community dining sites as well as home delivered meals throughout Maine to eligible older individuals who are homebound, their care partners, and persons with a disability who are unable to prepare a nutritionally balanced meal due to physical or cognitive limitations and have no one to prepare a meal for them.
Nutritious meals promote health and wellness and help older adults and adults with disabilities to remain living in their homes. Menus are designed for dietary, cultural, and community preferences.
Congregate Meals
Community dining provides an opportunity to socialize with others, meet new friends and have a nutritious meal. Dining experiences often provide the following:
- Access to nutritionists
- Counseling services for management of chronic diseases such as diabetes
- Access to a wide variety of information and resources
- An opportunity to socialize with friends/community members and occasional recreational entertainment
To find a community dining location nearest you, contact your local Aging & Disability Resource Center.
Home Delivered Meals
Home Delivered Meals are delivered to homes by dedicated volunteers and staff and help support people to remain in their homes. This also provides an opportunity to check in on the meal recipient as a safety measure.
You may need meals for a short time because you were recently discharged from a hospital and can't make meals until you recover. Or you may need meals for a longer period of time because your abilities have changed. For older Mainers who are no longer able to prepare meals for themselves, home-delivered meals provide healthy, nutritious, balanced meals for up to five days a week. In addition, up-to-date information about wellness and healthy eating habits is provided to those receiving meals. Registered dietitians offer private nutrition counseling for those participants with questions about diabetes, weight loss or gain, and healthy eating.
Additional Services Include:
- Nutrition Education: A program to promote better health by providing accurate and culturally appropriate nutrition, physical fitness, or health (as it relates to nutrition) information and instruction to participants, caregivers, or participants and caregivers in a group or individual setting overseen by a dietician or individual of comparable expertise.
- Nutrition Counseling: Counseling is provided one-on-one by a registered dietician and addresses the options and methods for improving the individual’s nutrition.