Delivering a Difference
2025 ANNUAL REPORT
A LETTER FROM OUR CEO
Dear Friends,
2025 was a year of continued growth for Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels (YMOW). Building on the momentum of our 50th anniversary in 2024, we grew to meet record demand across eastern Washtenaw County. Through every change and milestone, our commitment has remained the same: We Deliver More Than a Meal.
This report is a look back at what that commitment made possible last year: meals delivered, homes made safer, pets kept fed, and the neighbors who were connected to the resources they needed. None of it happens without the people behind it: our staff, our volunteers, our partners, and you, our donors. Thank you!
2025 was a historic year for YMOW. Every part of YMOW grew to meet the demand in 2025:
- Meal delivery: 132,069 meals delivered to 512 homebound neighbors, more than double the households we served just two years ago
- Case management: our team spent the year navigating benefits, medical appointments, and community resources in partnership with our clients, including helping clients make sense of new changes and cuts to their medical insurance and benefits
- Safe at Home: 165 individualized safety goals achieved, up 31%, with new reach into new parts of Washtenaw County and to new seniors who benefit from our services
- Fur-Ever Friends: recovered from a difficult summer to end the year serving 46 households and 70 pets, a number we’ve already surpassed in 2026
Getting the word out about what our seniors are facing is part of that work, too. This year, I had the chance to talk with 89.1 WEMU about the risks extreme summer heat poses for homebound older adults, and what our community can do about it. Conversations like these help more neighbors understand why this work matters.
Because of your support, we continued our services in 2025 and can keep on in 2026 and beyond – we are currently on pace to serve 145,000 meals in 2026. In a time of uncertainty, YMOW remains committed to our most vulnerable neighbors.
With gratitude,
Barbara Niess-May, MPA, MSW
President/CEO, Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels
OUR YEAR
2025 By The Numbers
2025 CLIENT SURVEY
Among clients receiving home-delivered meals:
- food security rose from 56.5% before enrollment to 86.8% after
- 92% report YMOW helps them live independently
- 79% feel less isolated
- 67% report reduced fall risk
Source: YMOW 2025 client survey.
Through rain, snow, heat and cold, YMOW vans and volunteers are on the road every weekday delivering meals and smiles to hundreds of homebound neighbors.
YMOW depends on dedicated volunteers like MJ and Mary to help our staff bring “more than a meal” to Ypsilanti-area seniors.
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
Meal Delivery
At the heart of everything YMOW does is a simple commitment: no homebound neighbor in eastern Washtenaw County should go without enjoying a nutritious meal or seeing a friendly face. In 2025, our team delivered 132,069 medically prepared meals, our highest annual volume in the organization’s 51-year history, to 512 unique older adults and people with disabilities. The meals were delivered across 16 delivery routes running five days a week.
Every delivery is also a wellness check. For many clients, the staff or volunteer who brings lunch is the only person they see that day. A missed knock at the door, a fall, a forgotten medication: our staff and volunteers are trained to notice, and to act.
The need keeps growing. The number of neighbors served increased by 10.6% from 2023 to 2025, and demand continues to rise.
We partner with many organizations to conduct our home-delivered meal program. Most of our meals are provided by Michigan Medicine, and we pick them up from the hospital every weekday. These meals are also supplemented with frozen meals from Gordon Food Services, which are delivered to our clients on Friday to prepare for the weekend ahead. We receive weekly deliveries from Food Gatherers, who provide additional food items for us to package up and send out to clients. In 2025, we were fortunate to have our Produce Box program supported by Trinity Health – in this program, small produce boxes from The Farm at Trinity Health are packaged up and distributed to YMOW and Ann Arbor Meals on Wheels (AAMOW) to send out to their clients. These deliveries are supplemented by generous food donations from Whole Foods and Starbucks.
Client Spotlight
After a serious leg injury left Mark isolated and unable to get to the store, he almost gave up. “It was a struggle,” he said. A friend suggested Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels, and knowing someone would visit three times a week gave him something to hold onto. Within months he was well enough to cook for himself, then to work again. “I was trying to do it myself, and it was nearly impossible,” he said. ‘There are probably a lot of people out there who need help and are too embarrassed to ask for it.”
| Meal Delivery | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meals Delivered | 121,790 | 132,069 | +8.4% |
| Unique Clients Served | 480 | 512 | +6.7% |
| New Clients Started | 209 | 195 | -6.7% |
| Delivery Routes | 16 | 16 | No change |
Source: YMOW 2024/2025 HDM Client Report. Route 8 launched in 2026 and will appear in next year’s totals.
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
Case Management
Growing older often means navigating a maze of benefits, medical appointments, and community resources, often alone. YMOW’s case management team meets clients where they are, providing as-needed intake, assessment, and referrals that connect them to nutrition support, health services, and other resources across Washtenaw County.
For clients managing multiple chronic conditions on fixed incomes, this navigation support can be the difference between a small problem and a crisis. Case management works hand in hand with our meal delivery and Safe at Home teams, so a single wellness check can trigger the right kind of help, whether that is a referral to a partner organization, a home visit, or a connection to long-term services and supports.
In 2025, YMOW’s team received 334 referrals and completed 699 home assessments, up 13% from 620 in 2024, connecting clients to the right mix of meal delivery, home safety, and community support from their very first call.
This kind of community-based navigation closes a real gap. Without it, clients managing chronic conditions on fixed incomes often have nowhere to turn between doctor visits, and small problems can turn into hospital stays or a move out of the home they know. YMOW’s case managers coordinate with a wide network of housing, disability, and long-term care organizations across Washtenaw County, so referrals actually land somewhere.
Community events help YMOW spread the word about our work and the people it helps.
Client Spotlight
Christine turned to YMOW during the pandemic, when an autoimmune condition made it too risky to shop and cook for herself. What started as meal delivery grew from there: her case management team helped her access Fur-Ever Friends for her dog Callie, Safe at Home modifications to her bathroom, and occupational therapy-guided exercises to strengthen her hands. “They truly care about making my life better,” Christine said. “I feel like I have support. I really feel like I’m more a part of the community.”
| Case Management | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals Received | 322 | 334 | +3.7% |
| Assessments completed | 620 | 699 | +12.74% |
Source: YMOW 2024/2025 Supportive Services Report.
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
Safe at Home
A loose handrail. A step that’s just a little too high. For a homebound older adult, small hazards like these are often the difference between staying in the home they love and a fall that changes everything. Safe at Home pairs clients with free occupational therapy consultations that can result in education, improvements to routines, and home modifications including safer bathrooms, stairs, and entryways. All of these actions help seniors complete daily activities safely and independently.
In 2025, this work helped clients achieve 165 individualized home safety goals, a 31% increase over 2024. Our partnership with Eastern Michigan University brings research capacity to this work, validating the efficacy and financial return on the investments we make.
The program keeps expanding to reach clients who need it most. Geographic expansion in 2024 brought Safe at Home to participants beyond our home-delivered meal program and new funding in 2025 extended services to older adults without a formally identified caregiver, a population that had historically gone without this kind of support. Momentum has carried into 2026: through June, the Safe at Home team had assessed more than 500 activities of daily living, offering improvements to 80 rooms in the homes of the people we serve and putting the program on pace to exceed 2025’s full-year totals.
Safe at Home works because it does not work alone. Referrals move in both directions with a wide network of partners across the county, including Dementia Friendly Services, Disability Network, Washtenaw Housing Alliance, the Housing Bureau for Seniors, Friends in Deed, Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Services, Huron Valley PACE, Ann Arbor Meals on Wheels, and Trinity Health IHA.
Falls are one of the most serious risks facing older adults who live alone. Nationally, falls send roughly 3 million older adults to the emergency room and cause more than 36,000 deaths each year. Occupational therapy has been shown to prevent more medically treated falls than any single other intervention. Safe at Home’s outcomes are now part of that research record: two studies using program data are pending publication in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy.
| Safe at Home | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client Safety Goals Achieved | 126 | 165 | +31% |
ource: YMOW 2024/2025 Supportive Services Report.
Client Spotlight
Maureen suffers from chronic back pain, and the tattered mattress on which she was sleeping wasn’t helping. Marian was surprised to learn that a call to YMOW could help with that, and so much more.
During Maureen’s initial assessment and enrollment in the home-delivered meals program, YMOW Nurse and Case Manager Kathy suggested a visit from YMOW Occupational Therapist Bridget. Through YMOW’s Safe at Home program, Maureen replaced the mattress on her floor with a proper bed. She also received a shower bench, allowing her to properly wash her lower legs and feet for the first time since her injury. Bridget also showed Maureen how to properly use the new items while protecting her back.
“I wouldn’t be able to do anything without Safe at Home,” Maureen said. “I couldn’t be more grateful.”
YMOW client
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
Fur-Ever Friends
For many seniors, their pet is the center of their life. The bond with a pet can sustain people: in a study by the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI), 83% of pet owners 50 and older said having a pet gives them a sense of purpose, 71% said their pet helps them enjoy life, and a majority said their pets reduce stress, and connect them with others. But vet bills, grooming, and supplies can slip out of reach on a fixed income. Fur-Ever Friends exists so our clients never have to choose between their own care and their companion’s. In 2025, we offered YMOW clients the following for up to 4 pets:
- Pet food – monthly
- Cat litter – monthly
- Basic veterinary services at approved local veterinary clinics
- Mobile grooming services (with up-to-date rabies vaccine)
Pet ownership is a documented social determinant of health for older adults, tied to reduced isolation and better mental health. The above-mentioned University of Michigan study showed pet companionship can lower blood pressure, reduce stress, and slow cognitive decline. Fur-Ever Friends is practical support that keeps clients and their pets together rather than forcing a choice between them.
This work happens through local partners who make it possible, including Ann Arbor Professional Pharmacy, Food Gatherers, the Humane Society of Huron Valley, Meijer, Michigan Avenue Animal Hospital, Pet Smart Charities, and the Whittaker Road Animal Clinic.
Enrollment in Fur-Ever Friends dipped in summer 2025, falling from 45 households in the spring to a low of 33 in July before recovering to 46 households and 70 pets by December. That recovery continued into 2026: by June, the program was already serving 56 households and 82 pets, well above 2025’s high point, with groomings and vet visits both trending upward.
“I was giving my dog my food. Now, I eat my whole dinner myself.”
YMOW Client
| Fur-Ever Friends | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 (Jan–Jun) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pet Food Delivered (lbs) | 8,996 | 5,856 | 3,094 |
| Litter Delivered (lbs) | 4,519 | 3,878 | 2,002 |
| Vet Visits Facilitated | 39 | 25 | 13 |
| Groomings | 12 | 15 | 11 |
Source: YMOW 2024/2025/2026 Pet Program Report. 2026 figures are year-to-date through June and not directly comparable to full-year totals.
STEWARDSHIP
Financial Statements
All financial figures below reflect YMOW’s audited 2025 statements. Full details, including our Form 990, are available at ymow.org/ymow-financials.
2025 Revenue Total: $2,528,000
2025 Expense Total: $2,565,000
In 2025, 80 cents of every dollar YMOW spent went directly to programs and services for our clients. In a time of rising costs and strains on our budget, we are proud to keep this level consistent.
YMOW’s finances reflect a deliberate commitment to transparency and diversified support. We hold a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, platinum-level transparency recognition from Candid, and are a proud member of Meals on Wheels America. Our revenue is diversified across public partners, private foundations, corporate partners, and individual donors, so no single funding source determines whether our neighbors are fed and cared for.
COMING SOON!
WHAT'S NEXT
Looking Ahead
Demand for YMOW’s services will continue to grow. By 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older, and Michigan’s retirement-age population will grow by another 450,000 people. Locally, Washtenaw County is already there: 62,500 residents, 16.7% of the county, are 65 or older today. The wave everyone is planning for has already started, and YMOW is preparing to meet it.
We began some of that work in 2026:
- Meal Delivery: added a new delivery route, bringing the current total to 17
- Case Management: continued helping clients navigate changes and cuts to their medical insurance and benefits
- Safe at Home: began building new community partnerships to extend services further across the county
- Fur-Ever Friends: kept rebuilding program enrollment after 2025’s summer dip, restoring services to more households and their pets
Behind all of our work, we are laying the groundwork for a new YMOW facility. We are planning a building built for the next 50 years as we grow our meal capacity, host Safe at Home consultations, store Fur-Ever Friends supplies, and give our staff room to work the way the community needs us to – efficiently and sustainably. Feasibility planning is underway now, and this is the first year of what will be a multi-year campaign. It is early. It is also the most important thing we can do to make sure YMOW is still here, and still growing, for the next generation of Washtenaw County’s older adults.
WITH GRATITUDE
Thank You
To our donors, our staff, our volunteers, our board, and our community partners: THANK YOU! Every meal delivered, every handrail installed, every bag of pet food carried up a driveway happens because you make it possible.
You’ll find many of our partners named throughout this report, in the sections where their support made a difference. Just as many of you gave without any program attached at all, trusting YMOW to put every dollar where it’s needed most.
We’re profoundly grateful to the 1,837 individual donors who gave in 2025. Your generosity, in every amount, keeps our wheels moving.
