Dale Hoover wants to bust one of the biggest myths about Meals on Wheels: it is not just for poor seniors.

Hoover, an outreach specialist for Meals on Wheels, has worked in the program offered by Seattle-based nonprofit Senior Services for seven and a half years. In that time he’s seen the good it can do and wants people to know more about it as well as the cities and agencies it supports.

“Money has nothing to do with it,” Hoover said. “We are here as a service for you. We provide more meals for seniors in King County than anyone else.”

Meals on Wheels partners with the Greater Maple Valley Community Center — which serves seniors in Covington, Maple Valley and in surrounding unincorporated areas — as well as the Black Diamond Community Center to help spread the word and connect with potential clients.

According to statistics collected by the organization, Meals on Wheels served 3,005 meals in Covington and Maple Valley combined in 2012 while 977 meals were served to clients in Black Diamond.

Hoover wants people to know that the cities they live in as well as King County work hard, in his view, to support social services programs such as Meals on Wheels. He has made an effort to communicate better with the human services departments in the cities the program serves and has made particular headway in Covington and Maple Valley. He also said improved communication has led to stronger partnerships which has led to greater access for seniors in need.

All the food provided by Meals on Wheels locally is paid for through donations only. Donations such as the one made during the grand opening of Firestone in Covington Dec. 14. Because  each meal costs $4.50, that $500 check from Firestone will go a long way, Hoover said.

MOW spends between $2 million and $2.5 million to provide meals to seniors in the county. The program has 23 satellite centers through King County. At each center is a freezer where the meals are kept. Drivers, many of whom volunteer, pick up the food from a satellite center and deliver them weekly, as few as seven meals a week per client with a maximum of 14 meals.

The number of clients who use Meals on Wheels in the county has increased, Hoover said, particularly locally.

Mark Pursley, the executive director of the Maple Valley Community Center, described the partnership as “a perfect fit.”

“In terms of need, if you just look at the demographic shift in South King County, I was looking at the 2010 census compared to the 2000 census, the populations has just exploded,” Pursley said. “The income levels are more diverse than they’ve been and there’s more Section 8 housing out here. And our population is aging. There is a definitely a need.”

He is also happy MOW meals are designed to fit into the dietary needs of seniors whether that’s because of diabetes, high blood pressure or other issues which impact them, because it complements what the Community Center is doing.

“The crux of our program lies in prevention because it’s so much cheaper and so much easier than intervention,” Pursley said. “The research shows that the longer we can keep a senior independent in their own home, the longer they’ll live, the healthier they’ll be, the less reliant they’ll be on social services.”

Meals on Wheels helps seniors remain independent, Pursley said, and by keeping them healthy, it has a wide ranging positive effect on everyone.

“It’s a tightly knit dance,” Pursley said. “We have to look at all components of the family. And it affects society as a whole.”

This complementary service hits the areas the Community Center doesn’t, Pursley said.

“It’s an extension of what we’re doing as we see it,” Pursley said. “We’re doing senior lunches Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But, what do they do in the evenings? Especially in an area as rural as this one is, so, the fact that these services are being delivered right to their home is amazing. And it just piggybacks on what we’re trying to do here with our own senior nutrition program.”

Hoover encourages seniors such as those who go to the community centers in Maple Valley and Black Diamond, as well as anyone who lives in the area, to think about those who may be in need of the support MOW provides even if it’s a short-term solution.

It can ease the mind of adult children who have brought their parents into their home, it can be there for a senior who needs a little help after surgery or a broken hip, Hoover said.

“Not everybody has somebody to help them out,” Hoover said. “Our volunteers … those people are oftentimes more important than family members (to clients).”

Pursley does worry that services like Meals on Wheels may lose support because of the challenges non-profits have dealt with since the recession began in 2008.

“(Meals on Wheels) just goes hand in hand with exactly with what we’re doing and we could not be happier or prouder to be partnered with such an efficient, well run program,” Pursley said.

Reach Assistant Editor Kris Hill at khill@maplevalleyreporter.com or 425-432-1209 ext. 5054.