Sidebar: County Meals on Wheels serves 118,846
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 5, 2017 9:59 AM
Meals on Wheels provided home-delivered meals to 360 Wayne County residents last Tuesday.
There are actually two components to the program -- home delivery and congregate nutrition program sites where senior citizens can go to the Peggy Seegars Center or the nutrition site in Mount Olive.
The program served 118,846 meals during fiscal year 2015-16 through both sites. That includes 83,101 home-delivered meals and 35,745 at the congregate sites.
During that same period, the program served 492 unduplicated people through home delivery and 383 at the congregate sites.
Also in 2015-16, there were 891 delivery volunteers who provided 20,448 hours and 35 others who provided 5,354 hours at the congregate sites.
"The state of North Carolina requires that we give everybody the opportunity to make a donation," said Brownie Doss, WAGES director for Older Adult Services that manages the program. "Most of our clients do make voluntary donations."
Those in the home-delivery program donated $11,867. 75 in 2015-16, and those in the congregate side gave $10,350.24.
"We buy a certain number of meals with the donations," she said. "That goes to providing more meals for seniors. We don't use that money for salaries or equipment -- just for purchasing more meals."
Volunteers enhance some programs, Meals on Wheels is dependent on them, Mrs. Doss said.
"We have wonderful volunteers, but we could always use more," she said.
It takes about 40 to 50 volunteers a day for the 28 delivery routes.
Mrs. Doss said the program prefers to have two volunteers per route although some like to go by themselves.
Many volunteers come from churches and civic groups. Individuals volunteer as well.
Wayne County is the only county in its nine-county Eastern Carolina Council region that still delivers hot meals five days a week, she said.
Other counties might deliver one hot meal and four frozen meals and call to check on the participants during the week, she said.
"It is simply because they can't get the volunteers," Mrs. Doss said.
Mrs. Doss is aware of concern by concerns about abuse.
"There is going to be abuse of any program I am sure," she said. "But we do an in-home assessment. Sometimes they are on there for only a short period of time. They might have had hip surgery or knee surgery, broken a leg or whatever. They are on there until they recover.
"But the vast majority is old. They are not going to improve when they are 95 years old. Most of them are going to be on it for a good period of time."
Of those being served 136 are between the ages of 75 and 84 and 155 are 85 or older -- all of whom are still able to live at home.
The program currently has 75 on a waiting list.
For more information, or to volunteer, call 919-734-1178 or visit WAGES, 601 Royall Avenue.