More volunteers needed for Meals on Wheels
By Turner Walston
Published in News on March 9, 2006 1:52 PM
The WAGES Meals on Wheels program is seeking volunteers for its routes in Goldsboro and throughout the county, coordinator Andrea Bone said.
The program serves lunch five days a week to about 300 homebound residents in the county. Routes take no more than an hour, Mrs. Bone said.
Volunteers pick up the meals at WAGES in Goldsboro, or at designated locations in other parts of the county.
"Everything is packaged," Mrs. Bone said. "It's almost like takeout food. They have a cooler, they have a bag that has rolls or muffins, and then the hot meals are all the very same. They are packaged in something sort of like a pizza delivery box."
Volunteers only have to go to the client's door and hand him or her the meal, she said. "There's not a lot to it."
But Meals on Wheels serves more than just lunch.
"It's also a security check," Mrs. Bone said. "A lot of these people don't have a lot of family around. The Meals on Wheels volunteers are pretty much the only people they see. We have found people that have fallen and had to call family to come over and help them out."
There are 12 Meals on Wheels routes in Goldsboro, and another 17 in the county, Mrs. Bone said.
"I think part of the problem in finding volunteers is they feel like if they say they can do it Wednesday that they can't take a week off," Mrs. Bone said. "If somebody could just do it once a month, it would be a big help."
Volunteers are needed in Goldsboro and throughout the county, including Pikeville, Fremont, Belfast, Dudley and Mount Olive. To volunteer or for more information, call WAGES at 734-1178, Ext. 281.