NONPROFITS: $18M Building Renovation Includes Industrial Kitchen
By Ray Huard
September 26, 2024
SAN DIEGO – Meals on Wheels San Diego County has expanded and moved its headquarters from Old Town to a renovated office building in Kearny Mesa.
The $18 million renovation of the 23,000-square-foot building at 9590 Chesapeake Drive included construction of a 10,000-square-foot kitchen and a 13,000-square-foot volunteer hub.
It replaced a 6,000-square-foot building that was so crammed that there wasn’t enough room for everyone to come to work at the same time, and the kitchen where meals were prepared was in a separate building that was a mile away, said Brent Wakefield,
president and CEO of Meals on Wheels San Diego County.
When Meals on Wheels bought the Kearny Mesa building in August 2023, the interior was “very chopped up, small spaces,” Wakefield said.
“We completely rebuilt the inside. The exterior walls are all that we left standing,” Wakefield said.
The renovated building has 30 workstations arranged along three walls with views to the outside and 20 private offices.
A glass garage door opens to the outside.
A key part of the renovation was the new kitchen that will enable Meals on Wheels to increase the number of meals it prepares and delivers to seniors throughout San Diego County from 650,000 to 850,000 next year with a goal of raising that to a million in two years with a long-term goal of serving 2 million meals annually within five years.
The new building also gives Meals on Wheels a noticeable presence on the street.
“We’re trying to really be outward facing to attract the professional community to support us,” Wakefield said.
More than Meals
Wakefield said the that volunteer hub is a critical part of the operation because using volunteers saves the organization $3 million annually that it would otherwise have to spend on staff.
Meals on Wheels shares the building with ElderHelp, a nonprofit that provides personalized services to older people to help them remain independent and live in their own homes.
Those services include transportation, home safety inspections, and matching roommates for seniors to reduce their housing costs.
“Programs like ours and ElderHelp of San Diego defer people going to skilled nursing facilities by eight years,” Wakefield said. “What we’re doing is enabling them to age in place successfully.”
The two agencies coordinate their services, creating what Wakefield said is a one-stop shop for seniors who need help.
Meals on Wheels delivers meals to people 60 and over, their caretakers, and disabled veterans of any age.
The renovation of the Kearny Mesa building was partially paid for with a $4 million donation from MacKenzie Scott, a down payment from the McKinney family, and a $370,000 grant to install solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations.
Besides delivering meals, Meals on Wheels does a wellness check on each of its clients and is sometimes the only contact they have with someone during the day.
“Food is really important, but the seniors that we serve are just as hungry for human contact as well as food,” Wakefield said.
Working with the Red Cross and the San Diego Housing Commission, Meals on Wheels is also a part of the county’s emergency response team, capable of providing 1,000 frozen meals an hour to be reheated for people evacuated from their homes during emergencies.
“During the flood when people in the South County area were evacuated into the hotels, we were called up and we were delivering prepared meals to eight different hotels,” Wakefield said. “We were working with the (San Diego) Food Bank, with the Housing Commission to make that happen.”
In addition to its Kearny Mesa headquarters, Meals on Wheels has service centers in San Marcos, El Cajon and Chula Vista.
Meals on Wheels San Diego County
FOUNDED: 1960H
EADQUARTERS: Kearny Mesa
CEO: Brent Wakefield
BUSINESS: nonprofit charitable organization
WEBSITE: www.meals-on-wheels.org
CONTACT: 619-260-6110
NOTABLE: Meals on Wheels delivers more that 650,000 meals annually to people 60 or older
Read the Article on SDBJ: https://www.sdbj.com/nonprofits/meals-on-wheels-moves-to-kearny-mesa/
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