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During Hunger Action Month, Meals on Wheels of Chesapeake is celebrating a partnership that shows what it means to keep showing up, even when resources are scarce.

Last week, we saw a shocking headline: According to the first Virginia Hunger Study, more than 4 in 10 Virginia households did not have reliable access to enough safe, nutritious food between May 2025 and May 2026.¹ Among the vulnerable population we serve, 3 in 4 food-insecure adults have at least one chronic condition, and more than half have visited an emergency room or urgent care facility in the past year.¹

This month, Buffalow Family and Friends Community Days (BFF), founded by mother-daughter team Delena and Nischelle Buffalow, provided 180 shelf-stable meal boxes, 900 emergency meals in all, for Meals on Wheels participants in Chesapeake and Norfolk.

The gift comes at an especially meaningful time. BFF is still waiting for state funding that was expected earlier this year, after publicly reporting this summer that it had exhausted its operating funds.² Meals on Wheels of Chesapeake is facing a similar challenge: funding we have traditionally relied upon for Shelf-Stable Meal Boxes for Weather Closures and Closing the GAP Grocery Assistance Program also did not come through this year.

Yet the need has not gone away, and neither organization is walking away from it.

When we informed BFF that we were looking for donations to continue these programs, Nischelle responded simply: “We will get this done. The end result is to feed the senior community.”

Help BFF Keep Feeding Our Community

BFF is helping Meals on Wheels protect older and homebound neighbors while navigating its own serious funding shortage. This Hunger Action Month, we encourage our community to support Buffalow Family and Friends Community Days directly.

In July, Nischelle told WTKR, “More than ever we need funding. We need dollars.” Even during that shortage, BFF continued providing essential food assistance to older adults and other neighbors in need.²

More Than Food

Food insecurity cannot be separated from the other realities shaping an older adult’s ability to remain healthy and independent.

Research links food insecurity in later life with malnutrition, chronic disease, cognitive decline, stress and anxiety, and increased healthcare use.^3-7 Older adults may also be navigating fixed incomes, disability, limited transportation, social isolation, and difficulty accessing groceries.

That is why our More Than a Meal^TM person-centered model intentionally reaches beyond a daily meal.

Our programs include Closing the GAP Grocery Assistance, shelf-stable meals for emergency weather closures, social connection and companionship programs, basic needs programs, safety and resource coordination, and partnerships that connect participants with additional community services. We also use evidence-informed screenings for food security, nutritional risk, and loneliness so that we can better understand what each participant is experiencing, not simply whether they need a meal.

Our eligibility practices similarly prioritize older adults facing the greatest barriers to remaining safely at home, including people living alone, people with chronic illness or disability, people without reliable caregiver support, and people who are homebound.

The goal is not simply to deliver food. It is to reduce the barriers that can make aging safely and independently harder.

Closing the GAP

BFF plays an important role in that model.

Each month, BFF delivers groceries for our Closing the GAP Grocery Assistance Program. Grants and donations to MOWC support 32 participants each month, while BFF contributes groceries for 8 additional households in-kind, bringing the partnership’s reach to 40 households every month.

Our 2026 survey shows the value:

• 94% said their access to food had improved.
• 89% said the groceries always or often helped them have enough food through the end of the month.
• 67% worry less about running out of food.
• 61% eat healthier foods.
• 50% spend less money on food.

One participant described feeling “blessed and cared for.”

BFF has seen the same pressures in the wider community. As grocery costs rose and more families sought assistance from its pantry, Nischelle told 13News Now, “We go into the grocery store, we know how it is.” ⁸

Food Is Safety, Too

The 900 emergency meals BFF recently provided will remain in participants’ homes for times when weather or another emergency interrupts regular meal delivery.

Among MOWC participants surveyed this year, 96% said having shelf-stable meals helped them feel safer and better prepared, while 94% said the meals helped ensure they had enough food during weather-related interruptions.

A shelf-stable meal box cannot stop a storm. But it can mean an older adult does not have to wonder what they will eat if meal delivery is temporarily interrupted.

This Hunger Action Month, we are deeply grateful to Delena, Nischelle, and the Buffalow Family and Friends community.

Both of our organizations are experiencing funding gaps. But together, volunteers, donors, partners, and neighbors alike, we are continuing to close the gaps for the older adults we mutually serve.

Because food security is about more than a meal. It is about health, dignity, safety, connection, choice, and the ability to remain at home.

Further Reading

1. Federation of Virginia Food Banks. (2026, September 21). New statewide study finds 42% of Virginia households face food insecurity. https://vafoodbanks.org/virginia-hunger-study-food-insecurity/
2. Holly, E. (2026, July 28). Chesapeake nonprofit Buffalow Family and Friends hits zero operating funds, asks community for help. WTKR News 3. https://www.wtkr.com/news/in-the-community/chesapeake/chesapeake-nonprofit-buffalow-family-and-friends-hits-zero-operating-funds-asks-community-for-help
3. Pereira, M. H. Q., Pereira, M. L. A. S., Campos, G. C., & Molina, M. C. B. (2022). Food insecurity and nutritional status among older adults: A systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 80(4), 631–644. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuab044
4. Reid, A. (2021). Older adults with chronic disease and food insecurity in the United States. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 47(12), 7–11. https://doi.org/10.3928/00989134-20211109-02
5. Zhang, Y., Jiang, J., & Yin, D. (2024). Impact of food insecurity on cognitive health in older adults: Insights from the NHANES 2011–2014 data. Frontiers in Nutrition, 11, 1421970. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1421970
6. Weaver, L. J., Owens, C., Tessema, F., Kebede, A., & Hadley, C. (2021). Unpacking the “black box” of global food insecurity and mental health. Social Science & Medicine, 282, 114042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114042
7. Distelhorst, K., Adams, K., & Lopez, R. (2023). Food insecurity, neighborhood, and health care utilization in health system adults. The American Journal of Managed Care, 29(4), 188–194. https://doi.org/10.37765/ajmc.2023.89347
8. Britton, L. (2024, August 28). Non-profit enlists Navy volunteers in fight against food insecurity in Hampton Roads. 13News Now. https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/community/non-profit-navy-volunteers-food-insecurity-hampton-roads-bff-food-pantry/291-78b577ca-648c-4b08-9783-4427ab1029a8