Meals and a Visit program launches in Excelsior Springs to serve homebound seniors
Hear from the coordinators and volunteers making Meals and a Visit happen!
Excelsior Springs, Mo. (Jan. 13, 2026) — A new local partnership is bringing more than lunch to Excelsior Springs seniors who cannot make it to the Senior Center.
The Meals and a Visit Program, known as MVP, provides a weekday meal delivered to a participant’s home, along with a short check-in aimed at reducing isolation and helping identify needs before they turn into emergencies.
City Manager Molly McGovern said the program matters because it reaches seniors who are slipping into isolation and struggling to meet basic daily needs. “There are seniors who are unable to deal with their nutritional needs,” she said. “Maybe they have reasons they can’t cook themselves or access to go out to eat. Maybe they don’t have family close enough to help them meet their needs for their breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
McGovern said the daily visit is the heart of the program.
“What’s more important than the meal, as we’ve learned, is socialization. Lack of socialization is one of the biggest reasons people have difficulty with other health issues they may have,” she said. “So the visit is huge.”
A local solution to a regional gap
Senior Center Director Jeff Barge said the community has been without a steady home-delivered meal option for years.
“Unfortunately, since I’ve been here over the last seven years, we have not been able to do home-delivered meals, and it really came down to funding through the federal government,” Barge said, adding that “our ordinary home-delivered meal system” has been on hold for nearly 18 months.
Barge believes the renewed service can be life-changing.
“Seniors right now that are isolated and home-bound, the quality of life of just having a person ring a doorbell and bring food and check in on them, this program actually should save lives,” he said.
He described how daily contact creates a routine and a safeguard. “If that driver doesn’t get a response, they let the fire department know, and we can literally save lives that way,” Barge said.
Hospital kitchen becomes the hub
A key change, leaders say, is that meals are prepared locally, reducing travel time and simplifying delivery routes.
McGovern said Excelsior Springs Hospital submitted a bid and was selected to provide the meals, packaging them so volunteers can pick up and deliver efficiently.
“The volunteer can pick those meals up here in town, rather than traveling out of town, say 15, 20 miles to pick up a meal and then bring it back and deliver that,” she said. “So we think it will be advantageous for the relationship with the hospital and the relationship with our volunteer recruitment.”
Hospital CEO Kristen DeHart said the idea has been in motion for years, reflecting on early conversations with Jesse Hall, a hospital board member, about building a meal-and-visit service for seniors.
“At the time, we were working through several challenges and thought, what a great idea and what a necessary idea, but we really didn’t know how we were going to be able to pull together the meal part,” DeHart said. “Over the course of time, we’ve been able to accommodate that.”
DeHart credited hospital nutritionist Laura Mercer for shaping meal quality standards and MVP Coordinator Tammy Murphy for managing logistics.
“Having Tammy Murphy in the mix is just golden,” DeHart said. “She is a go-getter, and she is going to make sure that our seniors have the best access to quality and delicious foods.”
DeHart reinforced the importance of meal quality for recovery and strength, and said she is proud of the hospital’s food service operation.
“I’ve always loved that our hospital provides fabulous food,” she said. “That’s not something you usually hear about hospitals.”
Nutrition and connection, together
Mercer said proper nutrition supports seniors’ health in multiple ways.
“Nutrition is crucial for our seniors,” Mercer said. “It helps them with their age-related changes. It helps them promote their physical strengths. It helps promote their bone density, their muscle mass, helps them boost their immunity, and enhances their overall quality of life.”
Mercer said MVP is designed as both a food program and a human connection.
“The meals and a visit program is more than just providing a warm meal,” she said. “It’s about connecting with the recipient. It’s about ensuring their well-being, and we wanted to be a part of that positive connection.”
Who the program serves
Leaders emphasized that the Senior Center remains the preferred option for those who can attend in person because it provides built-in social time, activities, and peer connection. MVP is intended for seniors who are not able to come in.
“One of the aspects of this program is if you’re able to get out and go to the senior center for your meal, that’s the preferred socialization,” McGovern said. “But if you have a doctor’s excuse that kind of says you’re not really capable of that activity, then this is the next best thing.”
Parks, Recreation and Community Center Director Nate Williams said the need has been visible at the Senior Center for years.
“The community center hosts our senior center, and we see a huge need with an average of over 60 people a day coming here for lunch, but there’s more,” Williams said. “There are friends, there are family members that aren’t able to make it in, that are still needing that nutrition.”
Williams said MVP shifts the structure of the Senior Center to the home.
“This allows us to get into the home every day and visit with those seniors that aren’t able to make it out,” he said. “It allows us to do a wellness check on individuals. Allows us to give them some social time.”
A participant’s perspective
Phyllis Blacksher, an MVP participant, said the program is helping her replace frozen meals with something closer to a home-cooked option, as mobility challenges have tightened her world.
She said her meals had become routine and limited.
“I’ve just been eating TV dinners, which is not the greatest,” she said. “So I was tickled when I found out about this because it would be at least kind of home-cooked meal instead of something that was frozen.”
She said the delivered meals also reduce the physical strain of cooking.
“It saves a lot, because my arthritis is in my back so bad, I just can’t stand for very long to cook at the stove. This is a whole lot better.”
Volunteers drive the program
Murphy said MVP relies on community members willing to deliver meals Monday through Friday, typically between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., picking up prepared meals at the hospital and following a route sheet.
“The importance, as everybody has said, is our seniors in this community that need the additional support of not only the nutrition from our fabulous hospital, but also just the one-on-one having a short conversation with someone,” Murphy said.
Murphy said those interested in volunteering, donating, or referring someone who may qualify can reach out by email. “You can email MVP@es-prcc.com to get any kind of information that you may need,” she said.
The early rollout is intentionally small. “We currently have four meal participants on board,” Murphy said. “The first year, we would like to cap it at 10 just so we can make sure that we’re doing a great job.”
Jesse Hall, a special projects consultant who helped push the program forward, said the need is clear, and the partnerships are what made it possible, including the Clay County Senior Services Fund, the hospital, the city, and the community center.
“Those four walls close in on you, my friends, and we just can’t let that happen,” Hall said. He cited poverty among older residents and urged community support. “Enough said. Let’s get behind this. $6 a day, let’s do this, Excelsior Springs.”
Community voices encourage involvement
Several local leaders and volunteers are already recruiting others.
Downtown Excelsior Partnership Executive Director Lyndsey Baxter said she saw the value firsthand through her grandfather’s experience with a similar model.
“My grandfather was able to take advantage of the program back whenever it was known as Meals on Wheels, and I know he thoroughly enjoyed that visit every day,” Baxter said.
Chamber board member Janet Wesley tied MVP to broader community health needs and called on churches to help with volunteers and resources.
“I have a challenge for the local churches,” Wesley said. “I think we all need to get involved.”
A volunteer team from Hightower said they joined after learning about MVP through a chamber presentation and quickly saw the response from recipients.
“They were so excited to see us and so appreciative of us bringing the food,” said Michelle Goode, describing how the first week felt unfamiliar but became easier as relationships formed.
The team also emphasized flexibility for volunteers.
“It doesn’t have to be something that you commit to every week,” said Melissa Bartlett. “If you team up with somebody, you can do it, you know, every other week.”
They encouraged residents to try it at least once. “Just do it once, and you’ll get hooked,” Goode said.
DeHart echoed that message, saying the visit matters to both sides of the doorstep.
“I would encourage anybody in the city that if they have the time or the capacity, it’s a great program to help either financially with a donation or to volunteer your time,” she said. “Not only is it good for the person that we’re visiting, but it’s also good for your own heart as a volunteer.”
Donations to support MVP can be accepted through the Community Foundation.
To find out more about the program or to volunteer, contact:
Tammy Murphy, MVP Coordinator
816-401-5698
mvp@es-prcc.com
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