Betty Anderson, site coordinator for North Country Meals on Wheels kitchen, scoops out a meat salad for clients Tuesday at Cross Roads Presbyterian Church in Gibsonia. A new program for Meals on Wheels, aided by a $50,000 grant, helps the organization deliver more food to those in need.

Meals on Wheels clients in Butler County began receiving not seconds, but whole second meals from the program.

As a result of a new initiative begun in the last six months, some 650 meal recipients are not only getting more food, but fresher and more nutritious meals.

“Basically, the model is one where we want to increase the recommended daily allowance of nutrition to our senior clients,” said David Nusser, community service program manager for the Lutheran Service Society, which runs seven Meals on Wheels kitchens in Butler, Beaver, Mercer and Allegheny counties.

Nusser oversees kitchens in Zelienople, where 112 volunteers prepare meals for consumers in Evans City, Zelienople, Callery, Harmony, Forward and Jackson townships and part of Cranberry Township, and Grove City, where 120 volunteers prepare meals for consumers in Grove City, Slippery Rock and Harrisville.

A third kitchen, North Country, is not under Nusser's oversight but is part of the new program, and its 64 volunteers deliver food in parts of Cranberry Township, Mars and Seven Fields.

“Before we had one tray delivered every day. It may not have been the most local and let me say the freshest food that was out there,” said Nusser.

“We have got two trays. One is hot, ready to eat. The other is chilled, ready to be heated later,” said Nusser. “Our issue now is people complaining about having too much to eat. That's a good problem to have.”

The new program focuses on using donated food in the Meals on Wheels meals.

Nusser said the donated food is local produce that was in danger of being discarded.

“The term for this is rescued food,” he said. “We get the food from multiple sources, farmers markets, supermarkets.”

The food is accepted, sorted and made into meals in a very short time at the society's job training and food service subsidiary Springboard Kitchens in Pittsburgh.

“A typical meal will consist of cucumber salad, macaroni and cheese and barbecued pork,” said Nusser. “Or it could be green beans and meatloaf and red potatoes. It depends on the sourcing.

“The second tray arrives cold to be heated up later with specific instructions on how to do that,” he said, adding the disposable trays can be warmed in anything except a toaster oven.

The new program was made possible by a $50,000 grant the Lutheran Service Society received last year from the Walmart Foundation and the Meals on Wheels Association of America.“Once the money is gone, the intent is to make the program self-sustaining, so it will continue to benefit seniors,” said Nusser.He said most of Meals on Wheels' Butler County consumers are seniors 60 or older, and many are shut-ins.Through the new program, the society is increasing the nutrition level in its meal deliveries to two-thirds of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of nutritional content for seniors.“We have found overwhelming research shows that two-thirds RDA is a strong tipping point when it comes to a senior's ability to remain healthy and independent in the home,” said John Dickey, chief operating officer of the society.“And cooking from scratch makes the meals more appealing, especially to a generation who experienced nothing but wholesome home-cooked meals at the dinner table for the majority of their lives,” Dickey said.Nusser agreed.“This is a big, big difference, and we've gotten a lot of positive feedback from consumers on this. We are really looking at a model that is both sustainable and viable and can reach more consumers,” he said.

To sign up for the Meals on Wheels service, call 412-734-9330 and ask to speak to a Meals on Wheels representative.David Nusser, community service program manager for the Lutheran Service Society, the nonprofit agency that runs the program, said a family member can call to request the service for a relative.A caller should be prepared to furnish the last four digits of the consumer's Social Security number and his exact birth date.Meals on Wheels will also need an emergency contact name and phone number for the consumer, Nusser said.Meals on Wheels is for consumers older than 60. There are no income guidelines. Meals on Wheels will ask for a donation from consumers over 60, but that is not mandatory.Nusser said the program will accept consumers under 60 on a fee-for-service basis.