Purpose Meals on Wheel Central Texas (MOWCTX) provides meals to more than 5,000 home-bound older adults in the Austin area every weekday. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of client-volunteer interactions to assess the social benefits clients receive and ascertain if and how loneliness and social isolation are addressed. Design/methodology/approach Observations of volunteer-client interactions, interviews with clients and surveys of clients were conducted to gain insight into clients’ experiences with MOWCTX services. Findings Qualitative analysis of observation and interview data revealed four non-tangible benefits clients received from MOWCTX: reduced physical risks when mobility issues are present, a daily safety check, opportunities for social contact and increased ability to maintain independence. Survey results supported these conclusions. Originality/value This research examines the impact of volunteer-client relationships on the experience of loneliness and social isolation.

Improvements in nutrition status were found after 3 months of receiving HDM, whereas intake of most nutrients did not change significantly. Results of this study provide further evidence that HDM can reduce nutritional risk of older adults, and may inform HDM programs on the differences of NSI and/or MNA-SF to assess nutritional risk of clients.

The number of Americans over age 65 is growing rapidly, increasing pressure for social services such as home‐delivered meal programs (HDM) to help elderly age in place. HDM programs are struggling to meet demands since funding has declined despite evidence that a high proportion of homebound elders are at nutritional risk. It is important to assess the efficacy of HDM in improving diet. The goal of this research was to determine the impact of HDM on nutrient intake among a sample of elderly in central Texas.Food intake in older adults was collected before and 3 months after receiving HDM meals in 2 separate samples, in 2011 (N=38), and in 2013 (N=28). In 2011, nutrient intake was assessed using the Block Brief Food Frequency Questionnaire and in 2013, with the web‐based Diet History Questionnaire II. Data were combined for this analysis. Depending on the normality of the data, paired t‐tests or Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests were conducted to compare pre and post intake of 31 dietary variables. In each sample and in the combined sample, the number of subjects who met dietary recommendations for macronutrient distributions, fiber, magnesium, riboflavin, and vitamins E and D remained the same or increased after receiving HDM, while the number of subjects who met phosphorus recommendations declined after receiving meals. Additionally, intakes of 14 nutrients were significantly greater or showed a trend toward increasing in the 2013 sample. However, in each sample and the combined sample, only % kcal from protein, riboflavin, and vitamin B12 recommendations were met by more than 75% of clients at follow‐up. While these results support the positive contribution of HDMs on nutrient intake, they also highlight the need for nutrition support for homebound elderly.