The organization provides over 1,000 meals daily at strategically located Community Dining Centers and through deliveries to the homebound. The Congregate Restaurant Meals for Seniors program began in February 1996 to address the organization's difficulty in marketing their services to younger, more active senior citizens, who need nutritionally balanced meals to maintain their health. The program contracts with two restaurants to provide specially designed meals for seniors for a minimal suggested contribution.
Participants receive a special senior menu and an envelope to leave their anonymous donation.
Seniors can dine with friends or family members of any age who can order from the regular menu. The restaurant program removed the stigma many attached to participating in a senior meal program. The total number of seniors served rose from under 100 to over 1200 individuals. Participating minority community members increased by over 110 percent, and men served increased by approximately 60 percent. The Congregate Restaurant Meals for Seniors program, which has already been replicated throughout Illinois, has positively changed lives by reaching out to seniors whose needs were not being met by traditional meal programs, and creating an innovative alternative to serve them with dignity.