Many In Tuolumne County Step Up To Help Fund Meals On Wheels

MOW Radiothon Check (Right to Left): KZSQ/Star 92.7 Morning Café DJ Mark Grauer, MOW Co-chair Stan Forrest, CEO Sierra Senior Providers, Inc. Kristi Conforti, MOW Co-chair Ron Patel, and SAF Executive Director Darrell Slocum

Sonora, CA – Tuolumne County residents once again pitched in to provide healthy meals to area seniors.

This morning, a Meals On Wheels (MOW) radiothon aired on Clarke Broadcasting’s Star 92.7 radio station with donations ranging from $20 to $500 from individuals. Morning Star Café DJ Mark Grauer shared, “It’s always such a blessing to be able to help our community and work with the great people at Meals On Wheels. It’s what makes radio shine for me.”

Sierra Senior Providers, Inc. CEO Kristi Conforti relayed that the total between sponsorships and donations so far is just around $144 thousand. And there is still time to donate until 5 p.m. today at the two Oak Valley Bank branches in the area or online by clicking here.  Conforti detailed one unique aspect of the local MOW program, “We’re one of the few [MOW’s] in the country that make and package and delivery a hot meal to our seniors. A lot of the other programs throughout the country go with a frozen food program.”

Currently, the average number of MOW meals provided daily is about 225. Conforti says those would not be possible without the generosity of donors and sponsors like Chicken Ranch Casino that gave $10,000 and Sonora Area Foundation that contributed $25,000. She added, “We want to say thank you to everybody who donated no matter how much. It all adds up and all goes toward feeding seniors…We know that these are unprecedented times and how hard it is. Everybody is struggling and so we really appreciate all of those who dug deep and donated this year.”