Meals on Wheels of Sarasota Needs Volunteers to Help with Increased Demand
The number of people in the Sarasota community who need home-delivered meals throughout the pandemic has continued to grow, To meet that need Meals on Wheels of Sarasota has ramped up its capacity.
The local organization that delivers meals to those who are homebound and unable to prepare food for themselves has increased the number of meals it delivers each day and the number of routes it is servicing in the community.
To keep up with the demand, Broughton said the organization is in need of hundreds more to volunteer.
Volunteers are needed to drive routes, clean and sanitize the insulated boxes the meals are packed in and help screen volunteers with temperature checks and other COVID-19 precautions. The hundreds of volunteers are needed not just for the holiday season but beyond.
Meals on Wheels of Sarasota delivers prepared 1,100-calorie meals, seven days a week, including holidays, to those in the community the ages of clients range from the youngest at 3 to the oldest at 105.
At the beginning of 2020,the organization delivered about 400 to 500 meals each day. And when the pandemic began, they expanded as needs grew. Volunteers now deliver anywhere from 800 to 1,000 meals a day.
Many of the volunteers who signed up at the beginning of the pandemic were seniors who decided to step back from volunteering out of fear of contracting the virus, Johnston said. And many of the regular snowbirds whom she could count on to volunteer are not making the trip south this year.
For those interested in volunteering, Broughton said to visit the Meals on Wheels of Sarasota website and register to volunteer. www.MealsOnWheelsOfSarasota.org