Every week on the Rebound South Florida, we tell you about Meals on Wheels, an organization that provides meals and services to homebound seniors. The nonprofit depends on their volunteers and the community to help those in need, especially during the pandemic.
“We saw a 300% increase in the number of clients and meals that we’ve served since March 13th,” said Mark Adler, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels South Florida.
Since the pandemic hit, the need for food and assistance in the elderly community has vastly increased.
In response to that, Meals on Wheels South Florida launched the Delivering Hope Campaign, a way people can help without having to leave their homes.
“They can create their own fundraising campaign. It’s an online system that you can access through our website,” added Mark.
According to Mark Adler, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels South Florida, pre-COVID, they were providing for 10,000 homebound seniors. Now they’re serving over 13,000.
So volunteers are needed now, more than ever. Mark says if safety is a concern, they’ve changed the way they operate substantially to ensure everybody is safe.
“We deliver the meals to the door, stand back and wait for the seniors to pick up the meals. If we do need to bring the meals into their home, if they can’t bend over and pick them up, we ask them to socially distance when they open the door and we go in and put them down,” said Mark.
Mark says if you can’t physically help, a donation to any of their many programs, goes a long way.
“You can decide, do you want to support meals for pets or do you want to support feeding homebound seniors or do you want to support the agency as a whole. It’s really important because in these times, everybody is having a hard time making ends meet and that includes us. General support is really hard to find and it’s really needed, “ added Mark.
Mark says they normally have 600 volunteers delivering meals, but that dropped down to about 300.
If you’re interested in volunteering or donating, you can find more information on how to sign up for the Delivering Hope Campaign here.
