How Citymeals on Wheels and other senior services are prepping for NYC’s next disaster

On a recent Friday morning, workers at Citymeals on Wheels’ massive food distribution warehouse in the Bronx were packing cardboard boxes with shelf-stable items like canned vegetables, pouches of tuna and salmon, and sealed, ready-to-eat meals that could be heated up or eaten straight from the container.

Each box contained enough food for six meals and would be sent to one of the thousands of homebound seniors enrolled in Meals on Wheels programs across the city. Seniors are meant to keep the boxes on hand in case extreme weather or another emergency disrupts their daily meal delivery, or their ability to get other food in the coming months.

In the past, the nonprofit sent these emergency boxes to seniors just once a year, ahead of winter, in case of a snowstorm, said Liz Cantillo, director of programs at Citymeals on Wheels.

But starting last year, the nonprofit began distributing them more frequently to prepare for a wide range of potential emergency situations, from extreme heat and power outages to the city’s recent bouts of poor air quality and flooding. Human-caused climate change is fueling many of these disasters. Citymeals first switched to four seasonal boxes last year, then decided on two larger ones this year because of logistical issues.

This seemingly small change in operations at Citymeals is one example of how some senior service providers in the city are rethinking their emergency preparedness, both in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of a changing climate and an aging population. Research shows that weather events like heat waves and hurricanes disproportionately affect older adults, who also face particular health risks from social isolation.

“Some of [our recipients] have mobility issues, and they can’t leave their homes. Others are those that can’t cook for themselves or shop for themselves and…