Prairie Five Meals has been serving congregate and home-delivered meals since 1974. Over the years, the program has adjusted, tweaked and transitioned to better serve older adults in rural Minnesota.

In 2018, after analyzing our service area of Big Stone, Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Swift and Yellow Medicine Counties, Prairie Five Meals took the unprecedented step by purchasing our first hot cold truck. With the success of the first vehicle, we have been able to purchase two more. The trucks daily travel a separate route, delivering meals to small towns and directly to farm sites.

More than 60% of the communities that are delivered have a population of under 500 people. In these small towns, they may lack grocery stores, c-stores or cafes. With only 14 grocery stores in our 3,000 square mile service area, it equates to 1 grocery store per 214 square miles.

Using local caterers, Prairie Five Meals provides meals to 80% of the communities in our 5-county area. In our most recent survey, 87% of the participants stated that their noon meal is their primary meal of the day. In 2024, we served three 100-year-olds who could still live independently.

In 2024, Prairie Five Meals served 106,480 meals to 1,400 60+ individuals, along with an additional 10,443 prepared meals to 18–60-year-olds and their dependents for a total of 116,923 total meals.

Prairie Five is the only provider in the state that directly delivers meals using hot cold trucks. This

approach allows older adults to choose their frozen meals and provide daily safety checks.

Rural Minnesota, primarily the Prairie Five service area, had a budget cut of $100,000.00 for 2025. This was due to funding levels that went back to 2019 levels.

Prairie Five is anticipating that by November, we may implement waiting lists for older adults to receive hot or frozen meals. This is not Prairie Five’s choice; it is due to the lack of funding, both from the federal and state levels.

The senior nutrition funding is being discussed in the Minnesota House with a $3.5 million appropriation and a $250,000 appropriation in the senate. In the next week or so, the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees will consider the allocation. Then the Omnibus bills will go to the House and Senate floors for passage. Once the bills have passed the House and Senate, conference committees will be appointed to determine the differences in the bills.

Prairie Five has been talking with our local and federal legislators, discussing the reality of rural Minnesota and the impact of not supporting funding of rural senior nutrition.

An older adult on a fixed income should be able to have the benefits of good nutritional options as well as living in rural Minnesota.

For more information, please get in touch with me (Erick Hedman) at Prairie Five Community Action 320-269-6578, contact our local legislators or

seniorservicesmn.org .