Hawai'i's largest Meals on Wheels program, which faced having to cut senior citizens from its home food delivery service due to budget cuts, received a $25,000 donation from Central Pacific Bank yesterday.

Starting today, Central Pacific Bank also will open its 38 branches to donations from the public.

"We wanted to make sure that this great nonprofit could continue to provide for the community as it has for years," said Clint Arnoldus, bank president and CEO.

Lanakila Meals on Wheels announced last month that it would have to cut its delivery service by 233 seniors because it will no longer receive extra state money it has relied on for years.

Since the announcement last month, money has poured in and the community "has just been really awesome," said Marian Tsuji, president and CEO of Lanakila Rehabilitation Center.

Tsuji said 27 homebound seniors have been "adopted" by people offering to pay the cost of their meals for a year, and Lanakila has received enough money to continue its current service for another month.

Last week, the organization received a $25,000 matching grant from Island Insurance Foundation. Tsuji said she expects Lanakila to reach that total within the next week. The money from Central Pacific Bank will not be counted toward the total to be matched by Island Insurance.

Lanakila Meals on Wheels delivers meals to 727 homebound O'ahu residents, many of whom are low income. It also has 269 seniors on its waiting list. The group is facing a deficit of $300,000, but it hopes to raise an additional $450,000 to get those seniors off the waiting list.

Accompanied by Arnoldus and John Schapperle, president and COO of Island Insurance, representatives from Lanakila Meals on Wheels and Mayor Mufi Hannemann yesterday delivered a hot plate of chicken, broccoli and beans to Lillian Tomitagawa, 92, who lives in a fourth-floor apartment at Punchbowl Homes on Captain Cook Avenue. The meal included a carton of skim milk and bread with butter.

"I cannot say which one is my favorite — all the meals are very good," said Tomitagawa, who is blind and has had meals delivered to her apartment for about a year.

In addition to delivering food, Meals on Wheels also chats with clients and takes note of their appearance and overall well-being. Tomitagawa described the worker who brings her food each week as "very nice, very sincere."

Concerns about maintaining Lanakila Meals on Wheels come as Hawai'i is facing an aging crisis that is expected to worsen as baby boomers enter retirement.

"We're here, we're in it already, and it's only going to get bigger and bigger," Tsuji said.

In 1970, Hawai'i residents older than 60 made up 8 percent of the population on O'ahu. In 2007, that number has risen to 19 percent. By 2015, the number of senior citizens is expected to climb to 216,000, or 23 percent of the population.

That means Hawai'i's senior population is growing at twice the rate of the Mainland's, Tsuji said.