Home Deliv­ered Meals Vol­un­teers: Mak­ing an Impact

April 16, 2021

We can’t say enough thanks to our incred­i­ble Home Deliv­ered Meals vol­un­teers! Their ded­i­ca­tion to ensur­ing the safe­ty of the old­er adults they serve each day is tru­ly inspir­ing. While their main task is to deliv­er nutri­tious meals, they reg­u­lar­ly serve our clients in ways that extend well beyond mak­ing a sim­ple deliv­ery. Check out just a few of the ways our vol­un­teers have made a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence in the lives of the indi­vid­u­als they serve.

A Re-Assur­ing Pres­ence When It Was Need­ed Most

On a hot sum­mer day, a Meals recip­i­ent locked her­self out of her home pri­or to her deliv­ery. When the vol­un­teer meals dri­ver arrived, she quick­ly jumped into action and called 911 for assis­tance. The vol­un­teer stayed with the client until she was safe­ly inside her home, and then resumed deliv­er­ing the rest of the meals on her route. 

Mak­ing Last­ing Connections

An incred­i­ble vol­un­teer who has deliv­ered meals for over thir­ty years took a break from deliv­er­ing dur­ing the ear­ly months of the pan­dem­ic. Months lat­er, when he returned to meals deliv­ery, he was placed on a dif­fer­ent route than he had served before. The dri­ver and the clients were both sur­prised and thrilled to find that the vol­un­teer was once again deliv­er­ing to clients he had served in the past. It was a joy­ful reunion for both!

Serv­ing as KYC’s ​“Eyes” to the Needs and Con­cerns of Clients

With the help of a vol­un­teer, KYC staff learned of a client whose access to her home was blocked as a result of exces­sive snow falls. Thanks to the car­ing and obser­vant vol­un­teer, our staff were able to see that snow was cleared and that the client was safe­ly able to come and go from her home.

Ensur­ing Safe­ty through Consistency

Our vol­un­teers get to know the peo­ple they serve, and are able to spot when some­thing is out of the ordi­nary and may need to be checked out for safe­ty. Con­cerned when a client did not answer his door in the time it usu­al­ly took, a vol­un­teer walked to the side of the house to see if he could learn more. After hear­ing the clien­t’s soft voice, he looked inside a win­dow to see that the client had fall­en. The vol­un­teer quick­ly called 911 and stayed in sight of the client, pro­vid­ing com­fort and reas­sur­ance until help arrived. 

By the Numbers

Become a Volunteer

KYC is grate­ful for the many vol­un­teers who have served our Meals pro­gram through­out the decades. If you would like to learn more about becom­ing a Meals vol­un­teer, con­nect with our Vol­un­teer Coor­di­na­tor today!

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