Shults Subaru and owners of Subaru vehicles bought from Shults Subaru last November and December raised $13,166 to help Meals on Wheels of the Jamestown Area continue to serve home-delivered meals to senior citizens in central and southern Chautauqua County. Presenting the donation to Barrie Yochim, Meals on Wheels executive director, center, are, from left, Samuel Spagnuolo, New York Subaru Distributors Corp. director of sales and marketing; Sean Larson, Shults Nissan Subaru general sales manager; Jillian Shults, Shults Subaru business development coordinator; Adam Kovalsky, New York Subaru Distributors Corp. district sales manager; Alex Fanuele, New York Subaru Distributors Corp. parts and service manager; and Darren Hills, Shults Subaru sales manager.

Meals on Wheels of the Jamestown Area has received $16,549 from Meals on Wheels America and Subaru of America as part of last winter’s Subaru Share the Love Event to help provide home-delivered meals to senior citizens in Chautauqua County.

During Share the Love, held from Nov. 17, 2018, through Jan. 2, 2019, Subaru of America, Inc. donated $250 for every new Subaru vehicle purchased or leased to the customer’s choice of participating charities, including Meals on Wheels America, of which Jamestown Meals on Wheels is a member. Shults Auto Group also contributed a significant amount of money to the program.

Jamestown Meals on Wheels received $13,166 from Subaru of America and Shults Subaru as a result of the success of the seven-week-long event. In addition, Jamestown Meals on Wheels received $3,383 as the result of recognition for the organization’s success in reaching national Meals on Wheels benchmarks for promoting the event.

“This is the seventh year that Jamestown Meals on Wheels has participated in Share the Love, which has brought thousands of dollars into Chautauqua County and allowed us to provide thousands of home-delivered meals to area seniors,” said Barrie Yochim, executive director for Jamestown Meals on Wheels. “Without Shults Subaru, Meals on Wheels America and Subaru of America, there would be more seniors going without food than there are now in Chautauqua County.”

Funding from Subaru will also allow Meals on Wheels to get meals into the hands of seniors more quickly in Chautauqua County, he said.

Shults Auto Group is the largest auto group in the Southern Tier. With more than 400 employees, Shults Auto Group has 10 different dealerships carrying 15 different makes and two pre-owned resale centers. These dealerships are located in Bradford and Warren, Pa., and Jamestown, Olean and Dunkirk.

Jamestown Meals on Wheels partnered with Shults Subaru during the 2017 holiday season to raise money and awareness of senior isolation and hunger in central and southern Chautauqua County. Jamestown Meals on Wheels utilized its specially-designed Subaru Impreza to attract new volunteers and promote Meals on Wheels in the community. Meals on Wheels also held a board-sponsored Chili Cookoff to promote how every all-wheel-drive Subaru model can negotiate snowy roads and chilly temperatures.

Senior citizens in Jamestown and in central and southern Chautauqua County can receive a heatable or a cold sandwich meal each day, or both, as needed from Jamestown Meals on Wheels and when the meal recipient matches program criteria. Meals on Wheels also provides frozen meals to be used on weekends, in some cases. The suggested cost for home delivery of one heatable meal and one cold meal is $9 per day. For either a heatable or cold meal, the suggested cost is $5 per day.

Meals on Wheels can keep its delivery costs low because it utilizes many volunteers who help deliver meals each day. Volunteer delivery routes, called satellite routes, are delivered in Jamestown, Lakewood, Falconer, Celoron and Fluvanna each day. Volunteers deliver more than 100 meals each day for Meals on Wheels. Some Meals on Wheels volunteers are from the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

Meals on Wheels is a United Way partner agency.

For more information about Meals on Wheels, call 488-9119.