City of Des Moines Mayor Matt Pina and City Manager Michael Matthias announced on Thursday, April 30, 2020 a new city program intended to help local restaurants and our senior and veteran populations during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Building on the successful take-out lunch program the City has provided for seniors at the Activity Center, which serves roughly 80 lunches a day (Monday – Thursday), the City is initiating the Emergency Assistance to Seniors and Vets (EATS) program. The EATS program will provide additional meals for Seniors and Military Veterans in need while also infusing $10,000 a month into our local economy.

The city, using resources from the King County Seniors and Vets Levy, will purchase $2,500 in vouchers from a different local restaurant each week and provide the vouchers to our seniors. The City will also be working with the LiUNA (Laborers International Union of North America Local 242, located in Des Moines) to provide vouchers to local Veterans.

The program is anticipated to start the week of May 4 and will initially run for three months.

A limited number of vouchers will be available at the Senior Activity Center (Monday – Thursday) and the city will provide vouchers to Veterans through LiUNA 242. The City is collaborating with local restaurants to establish the most efficient means of utilizing the vouchers.

In addition, the Meals on Wheels program, a partnership between the city and Sound Generations, with the hard work and assistance of dedicated volunteers, has nearly doubled the number of frozen meals delivered to qualifying seniors to around 400 per month.

“City of Des Moines staff and City Council continue to seek ways to assist our community and prepare for economic recovery, at the same time maintaining the financial viability of the City, as resources become more and more constrained,” the city said in a statement.

The Pandemic is wreaking havoc with the global, national and local economies. There has been huge unemployment and business closures as a result of public health requirements designed to stop the spread of the virus. Everyone is challenged by this economic contraction.

The role of the City of Des Moines in the first phase of response was to support our first responders (fire, police and emergency medical) and activate the Emergency Operations Center to enhance coordination, communication and collaboration between first responders, our partner agencies, King County Emergency Operations Center, public health and state officials.

This emergency event is unique because we do not yet know the depth of the impacts or the solution to end the pandemic while retaining a healthy economy. This will be our next challenge. Emergency management begins with addressing the acute nature of the Pandemic and taking action to control the spread of the virus.

The next step is recovery, where efforts are made to return to normalcy. One very tricky part about the Pandemic is that these are uncharted waters, we do not know what the new “normalcy” will be. Nonetheless, we must prepare.

The Mayor and City Manager felt it was critical to find ways to infuse capital into our local economy, support our hard working restaurants and expand the provision of meals for our Seniors and Vets. We appreciate the flexibility of King County in the use of the Senior and Vets levy funds.

For more Information Contact Management Analyst Rochelle Sems at 206-870-6514 or
[email protected].

4 replies on “New city program will assist seniors, veterans and local businesses during pandemic”

  1. THIS was published just hours after MaRTinellis proposals mentioning restaurant vouchers. bravo for moving the needle martinelli!

  2. This is sooooo cool! Our elderly and veterans make up so much of our community here is Des Moines and it’s awesome that the council is rewarding and taking care of them in this way! Love our town and love our council! Yay!

  3. Finally we see all seven council members working together! This is an exceptional time for our City of Des Moines. Although I am both old and a veteran, there is little chance I will be a beneficiary of this wondrous good deed. Next I would like to see the council agree to reinstate our favorite charitable organization, The Des Moines Legacy Foundation, each buy tickets if and when available, and attend, maybe even all at one table. While we often contribute to various charities, I have one that really needs attention now and the council might be willing to reach out to. We have a friend, Kyt Gardner, who is in charge of “Damascus Homes” at 22608 next to the Veterinary Clinic. Kyt (pronounced kit)) is the personification of the beautiful Aunt Jamima Pancake Lady on a box that was always in our pantry..Now we do know she gives great hugs but it is her heart that goes out to neglected and homeless kids. Her work is cut out for her and most people do not seem to care. So if I could ask the council members to join, all seven, and tap this lady on the shoulder kindly with something green. I will, of course, continue to do my own thing here, mostly for the hugs.

  4. The Des Moines City Council, back as far as Kennedy, Wasson, Sheckler, has always ad a charitable vein in their budget. The direction of and the amount of the charity distribution depends on two things, basically, fluidity and situation at the time of need. This has always been part of out group of seven. This charitable tenet of council goes all the way back,, in my memory to a little town in New Jersey, where we were stationed. The council there were called “Freeholders”, not to be confused with “Freeloaders”. My wife was elected “Overseer of the Poor” until we were deployed to France. I just wanted to make the point that a council has the duty and commitment to see to the welfare and safety of their community as a unit, not a singular member. Remember Freeholder, not Freeloader? Thank you Des Moines City Council SEVEN.

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