Sarah Brown
While much of its senior clientele is sheltering-in-place due to coronavirus restrictions, Meals on Wheels continues to provide meals three days a week, just in a little different format.
Meals aren’t being served at the Senior Center, and although COVID-19 hasn’t put a stop to the deliveries, it did change the dynamics a little bit.
Some drivers at Meals on Wheels have been volunteering for as long as 20 years, giving them time to establish relationships with the clientele.
Instead of spending time chit-chatting together, the drivers now just drop off the hot meals on outdoor tables, with maybe some small talk at a distance, said Anita Lengacher, program supervisor of Meals on Wheels for Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties.
Under normal operating conditions, the Meals on Wheels program includes serving hot meals in a dining room setting. In Sweet Home, that service is available on Wednesdays at the Sweet Home Community Center.
COVID forced volunteers to shut down the on-site dining service, but they continue serving the meals for pick up service to those who are interested.
“Predominantly, our service is home-delivered meals,” Lengacher noted.
Hot meals are delivered three days a week for housebound seniors, and for those who don’t want to attend the dining service.
Those signed up for delivery get a menu a month in advance. Each day, there are two entrees to choose from that come with side dishes and milk.
In Sweet Home, deliveries of hot meals are served Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Frozen meals are offered, as well, on the “off” days, Wednesday and Thursday.
The service in Sweet Home has been growing exponentially over the years, being one of the highest meal sites out of the 11 served by MOW, Lengacher said. Now there’s COVID.
“Before this, we’ve seen an increase in meals served,” she said. “After this, we’ve had to add one more route.”
There is usually a need for volunteers to prepare dine-in service and do delivery, but, ironically, that’s not so much the case at the moment.
“Sweet Home has always been an area where we’ve had some difficulty getting volunteers, whether temporary or permanent,” Lengacher said.
But COVID has forced employees to be laid off or placed on furlough. Some of them have needed something to do or want to give back to the community, so they offered their time to Meals on Wheels, she said.
Lengacher’s concern is when society transitions back into life’s normal routine, she said.
“We have had so many people step up and say they can help during this time. When this is all over, will those volunteers be able to come back?”
Oregon’s Meals on Wheels program is a government agency run by the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments since 1980.
The food is purchased through a distribution company and goes to the services available through Benton, Lane, Lincoln, Linn and Marion counties.
Meals on Wheels is a service for seniors age 60 and over, and for Native Americans and Native Alaskans who are 55 and over. The meals are free, regardless of income, although donations are accepted.
For more information, or to volunteer, contact Sweet Home’s site manager, Norene Dennis, at (541) 367-8843.