Meals on Wheels Home Delivered Meals for Seniors From Berks Encore

To qualify you must be 60 or older and homebound by illness, handicap and/or functional disability, and meet one or more of these guidelines: physically, emotionally, or mentally unable to prepare your own meals; no family, friends or aides available or willing, on an ongoing or temporary basis, to help with meal preparation or grocery shopping; physically, emotionally or mentally unable to attend a Senior Center close to home, or no access to one; no cooking facilities in the home; lack of money for meals; or not currently active with a Community Health Choice Waiver program or Senior Life. The program is not based on income, but eligibility is based on need. Berks Encore aims to serve everyone in need of home-delivered meals in Douglassville, Wernersville, Mifflin, Reading, Fleetwood, and Strausstown PA.

Meals are delivered Monday through Friday. There are no weekend deliveries and none on major holidays. There is no cost for the meals, and a donation of $2.50 per meal is suggested. Meals are packed at Berks Encore's six centers to save time, money and other resources. Home delivered menus are posted for Reading in Spanish and in English, and for all other centers in English.

A home visit is required to determine eligibility. The care coordinator will call for an appointment to visit, determine eligibility, and obtain and update personal information. Once a consumer is determined eligible, they are started on the program within a few days depending upon route availability. When a person's circumstances are not likely to change and meals must continue, an annual evaluation documents that continuing need.

To start, you or someone helping you can fill out the Meals on Wheels referral form on berksencore.org. It begins with four true or false screening statements: that you are not receiving Moms Meals or another free meal delivery service; that you do not receive consistent support with meal preparation from friends, family or a paid caregiver on an ongoing basis; that your ability to drive or use public transportation is limited; and that you have a physical or mental impairment that limits your ability to cook for yourself. If you answer true to all of them you are likely eligible. If you answered false to the second, third or fourth statement, you may still be eligible, but do not continue the form: call the office at 610-374-3195 ext. 220 to speak with a Home Delivered Meal Representative for further screening.

The form asks for the person's name, address, phone, email, date of birth, the medical conditions or other restrictions preventing them from managing meals, the name and phone number of their primary doctor, and two emergency contacts with their relationship to the client. Someone filling it out for another person is asked for their own name, email and phone.

Berks Encore's main office is at 40 North 9th Street, Reading PA 19601, and the general number is (610) 374-3195, with email ApplaudingLife@BerksEncore.org. The page does not give office hours.

Berks Encore's six centers also serve congregate meals to seniors who are not homebound but are unable to prepare their own meals. Everyone age 60 and older is invited to a hot meal there in a social setting.

Source: berksencore.org/aging-services-in-berks-county-pa, read September 18, 2026.

The details

In Berks Encore’s words

Meals on Wheels serves individuals who are unable to prepare their own food because of physical limitations. A home visit is required to determine eligibility, and if found eligible, we make arrangements to deliver meals to your home. At Berks Encore, we aim to serve everyone in need of home-delivered meals in Douglassville, Wernersville, Mifflin, Reading, Fleetwood, and Strausstown PA. The Meals on Wheels program provides not just a nutritious meal, but also a check in by a volunteer. We pack…

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