The need for Meals on Wheels volunteers is greater than ever! This past fiscal year brought unprecedented growth to the Meals on Wheels program which is administered by the Council on Aging. Your help is more important than ever. Meals on Wheels provides more than meals; we also provide a connection with the outside community, a weekly “check-in” to ensure client safety and well-being. We remember our clients on their birthdays and recognize them on special holidays, because many of them do not have family or friends nearby with whom they can celebrate. We focus not just on quantity, or getting people enough nutrients to survive, we also focus on quality by improving their quality of life.

Providing essential food and other crucial services to so many deserving seniors takes many helpful and caring volunteers. This team effort results in an invaluable service to some of our community’s most vulnerable seniors. Whether they are living on fixed incomes or recovering from hospitalization, Meals on Wheels recipients deserve adequate nutrition, security, and comfort – ensured by a visit from the friendly face and kind words of someone who cares. Our volunteers come from all walks of life: 30% from local businesses and corporations, 30% from faith-based and civic organizations, 25% retired residents and the remaining 15% stay-at-home parents or students.

Meals on Wheels programs in rural areas face a unique challenge such as time, distance, cost and labor. In addition, seniors living in rural communities are more likely than others to “age in place”. The need for services is beginning to outpace the capacity to meet it. The combination of the time it takes to make deliveries, the distances to be traveled, and the size of the volunteer workforce involved in delivering meals is creating a situation where the need for more volunteers is critical.

One of our Council on Aging Senior Centers is located in Hilliard and the meals for residents on the Westside of Nassau County are distributed from there. We currently have a critical need to cover 3 Callahan routes which require deliveries 1 day a week to 35 people and 1 Bryceville route that makes deliveries to 13 people every other week. If you are interested in becoming one of our volunteers, please contact Linda Rogers or Michele Martin @ 845-3331. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Susan Parry, Coordinator

Development & Community Relations