Our history

EMOW volunteers holding signs and wearing green at the NE Parade
DINNER BELL service to Northeast Minneapolis and St. Anthony Village City is a labor of love for "birthday girls" Mary Ann Fitzer, co-coordinator; Irene Morgenthaler, corresponding secretary; Fran Odell, president; and Barbara Arell, vice president; shown with treasurer Joe Holewa, and Gloria Dei Church volunteers Pam and Margaret Maxwell, Dell and Arnold Walter, Meridel Christopherson, Margaret and Joan Peterson, and Bev Koepcke. They celebrated Dinner Bell's first birthday last week.

Clipping of The Very First Anniversary of Eastside Meals on Wheels, Thanks to a Volunteer

Since 1973, Eastside Meals on Wheels (EMoW) has provided nutritious low-cost to no-cost meals to the older adults in our area. The program was started in what was then Trinity United Methodist Church. The congregation members checked on each other if anyone missed services. They discovered seniors who were newly homebound and needed help.

The program was incorporated as Northeast Dinner Bell, Inc. on March 19th, 1974. Volunteers picked up heated meals from a delivery vehicle in Trinity parking lot and delivered them to older adults in Northeast Minneapolis and St. Anthony Village. As the program grew, the organization rented office space from Trinity church, where it remained for thirty-eight years.

In December 2011, changes in the general economic climate and the housing market caused Southeast Meals on Wheels (SE MoW) to close its doors. SE MoW was another nearly 40 year old program when it merged with Northeast Dinner Bell. Our program was renamed Eastside Meals on Wheels to better represent the new service area. Soon after, in May 2012, Eastside Meals on Wheels moved into Catholic Eldercare. 

Two years later in 2014, EMoW moved into rental space at Waite Park Wesleyan Church where we are located today.