In the earliest days of Meals on Wheels, the numbers were small enough to hold in one’s head. In 1965, the program delivered approximately 1,000 meals over the course of a year, about twenty meals each week across two delivery days. Volunteers could picture every route, every doorstep, every familiar knock. Each meal felt singular, because it was.
That sense of care did not change as the numbers grew. By 1968, Meals on Wheels was delivering roughly 3,600 meals annually, about seventy each week. The growth did not come from a plan to expand, but from a simple and repeated response to need. One meal led to another. One neighbour told another. What began as a small act of service was becoming a dependable rhythm woven into the life of the community.
Over the decades that followed, Meals on Wheels continued to grow in quiet but meaningful ways. By 1989, its twenty fifth anniversary year, the program delivered approximately 30,000 meals. By then, Meals on Wheels was no longer an experiment or a temporary solution. It had become a trusted institution. The numbers reflected not ambition, but confidence. This was a service people counted on, and a promise the community expected to be kept.
In 2004, Meals on Wheels entered a new chapter when it became part of Community Care Peterborough. That year, nearly 22,000 meals were delivered. More than a milestone, this moment marked continuity. The service was carried forward, strengthened by shared stewardship and a commitment to ensure that Meals on Wheels would endure for generations to come. The promise remained the same, even as the responsibility to uphold it grew.
Today, the scale of Meals on Wheels reflects both its history and its evolution. In 2025, more than 52,000 meals were delivered across the city and county of Peterborough. A meal is no longer only something prepared and delivered for one day. It is nourishment planned for the week ahead, reassurance built into routine, and independence supported over time. Each delivery carries with it the same intention as the first, even as its reach has expanded.
Across 60 years, the numbers have changed, sometimes quietly, sometimes dramatically. What has remained constant is what those numbers represent. Each meal is a response. Each total is a reflection of trust. Measured one year at a time, Meals on Wheels tells a story not only of growth, but of a community that has continued to say yes, again and again.
