Basics of Congregate
Congregate meal programs provide healthy meals served in group settings. They aim to keep older adults healthy and independent, offer opportunities for social engagement, and connect people with other supports and services. Despite the many benefits, it can sometimes be challenging to get participants to attend — and keep attending — your congregate site. Explore strategies that increase engagement and ensure your program thrives.
Articles & Briefs
- Congregate Meals: What’s Working in Communities Across the Country — Interview with Montgomery County, Maryland's senior nutrition program
- Enhanced Training for Congregate Meal Staff — Tips to provide needed training and resources
for congregate meal staff - Person-Centered Dining Choices — Tips for determining which dining options best meet individual participant needs
Infographics
- The Benefits of Eating With Others — Graphic on the positive impact of congregate meals
Quick Guides
- Plating Tips for Your Congregate Program — Tips on presenting an appealing plate
- Quick Tips: Congregate Meals — Information and resources related to common questions about OAA Title III-C1 Congregate Meals
- Quick Tips: Funding Options — Information and resources related to common questions on
funding for OAA Title III-C Nutrition Services - Identifying the Total Cost of a Meal — Summary brief for meal cost calculations
- Improving the Congregate Meal Dining Experience — Simple ways to increase participation and satisfaction
- The Dining Experience — Congregate Meal Policy Myth Busters — Common myths and the facts
about meal policies
Guides
- Activity Guides
- Car Show and Parade — Safely distanced community event
- Crack the Code — Word unscrambling game
- Did You Know? Game — Gathering to encourage connection
- Guided Imagery — Relaxation technique/exercise
- Holiday Inspiration Calendar — Calendar of nutrition and food-related holidays
- Nutritionary — Drawing and guessing game
- Recipe Sharing — Group project with opportunity for culture exchange
- Senior BrushStrokes — Painting activity idea from Camden County Senior Center in Georgia
- Text Challenge — Group-text health challenges
- Food Waste Reduction— Resources for better food sourcing, reuse, donation, and menu engineering from the National Restaurant Association
- Managing and Reducing Wastes— A guide for commercial buildings from the EPA
- Sustainability— Resources to help you operate in more environmentally friendly ways from the National Restaurant Association
Fact Sheets
- Meaningful Connection and Better Health Through Congregate Meals — How ACL’s Senior Nutrition Program combats loneliness and social isolation
- Behaviorally Informed Intervention Materials— Description of GSA pilot study on increasing voluntary contributions at congregate meal sites
- Congregate Meal Programs Value Proposition – Infographic from ACL
- Decision Tree C1 and C2 Funding — Classifying service delivery models under the OAA
- Nutrition Services Incentive Program (NSIP) — Definition of foods that can be purchased with NSIP allocations and resources to help ensure OAA alignment
- Understanding Participants’ Monetary Contributions — ACL issue brief on voluntary contributions at nutrition sites
Tools & Toolkits
- Plate Waste Tool — Audit tool developed by South Carolina Department on Aging that calculates plate waste scores for evaluation
- Help Your Local Meals On Wheels Program Ditch Disposables— Tools from Beyond Plastics to help meal programs make the switch from disposable to reusable
- Determine Your Nutritional Health — Screening tool from The Nutrition Screening Initiative to help assess nutritional risk
Resources
- Accessible Parking Spaces— ADA.gov guidelines for accessible parking
- Service Animals— ADA.gov resource on what businesses and governments must do to make sure that they do not discriminate against people with disabilities who uses a service animal
- Communicating Effectively With People With Disabilities— ADA.gov tips for successful communication
- Nutrition Services of the Older Americans Act — Overview of congregate and home delivered nutrition