Posted on July 30, 2026 by Anastasia Cisneros-Lunsford
College of AI, Cyber and Computing students are helping Meals on Wheels use data to better understand community needs and prepare for future demand.
Delivering a hot meal is only part of what Meals on Wheels provides. For many older adults, the visit also offers a friendly face, a wellness check and a connection that helps combat isolation.
As the organization works to meet the needs of a growing senior population following recent funding challenges, a team of UT San Antonio students is helping Meals on Wheels look ahead. Through the H-E-B Community Innovation Scholars program, they are analyzing data to identify where demand is growing, how services may need to expand and how the organization can prepare for future needs.
This summer, 20 UT San Antonio students are applying data science and artificial intelligence to challenges facing local nonprofits through the H-E-B Community Innovation Scholars program. Made possible by a generous gift from H-E-B, the undergraduate program is a partnership between the College of AI, Cyber and Computing and the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County that pairs students from a variety of majors with community organizations.
During the 10-week program, students work 20 hours each week as paid interns, earning a $4,000 stipend while collaborating with Opportunity Home, Goodwill Industries, ABC of Southwest Texas, Texas Housers, Autism Community Network, Meals on Wheels and United Way.
As Meals on Wheels works to recover from funding cuts that threatened services for many seniors, Scholars are helping the organization plan for the future. They are analyzing changing geographic demand for home-delivered meals and evaluating how the length of program enrollment may affect seniors’ health over time.
Student Linda Villarreal, who is a double major in architecture and public administration and policy, said her group is analyzing trends and population changes to evaluate what the organization can expect in the future, target outreach efforts, and strategically plan for growth.
“Data can help Meals on Wheels identify where aging populations are concentrated and which demographic groups may be at greater risk of food insecurity, isolation, or health challenges,” Villarreal said. “This allows them to provide support more efficiently and effectively.”
Savannah Matos, who is majoring in cybersecurity in the College of AI, Cyber and Computing, is learning to use ArcGIS, a mapping and spatial analytics tool that connects data to physical locations.
“By analyzing patterns in client data and zip codes, the organization can identify potential hotspots and better understand which areas may need additional resources in the future,” Matos said. “Tools such as heat maps and other visualizations can help highlight these trends and make it easier to plan for growth.”
Although home-delivered meals are at the heart of its mission, Meals on Wheels also helps older adults remain safe, healthy and independent through a range of services. From friendly visits and home safety improvements to nutrition resources and caregiver programs, the organization addresses many of the challenges that can accompany aging while helping seniors remain in their own homes.
The project also broadened the students’ understanding of Meals on Wheels’ mission, helping the team see that each dataset represents people with unique needs and circumstances.
Computer science major Kosha Antala spends most of her time in the classroom learning technical concepts. The H-E-B Community Innovation Scholars program has helped her translate these concepts into real challenges that affect real people. She said working with Meals on Wheels has completely changed how she thinks about data.
“Datasets can feel abstract, but meeting the people behind (Meals on Wheels) and learning about the seniors they serve made everything feel much more real,” Antala said. “It reinforced the idea that every data point represents a real person, which motivates me to be more careful and intentional in my analysis because it can influence decisions that affect vulnerable members of the community.”
— Anastasia Cisneros-Lunsford
