LOGAN — Cache County Meals on Wheels has been around at least since the 1980’s and maybe longer, and provides an essential service to older people in need.
On KVNU’s For the People program on Wednesday, coordinator Sarah Valent said it involves more than just delivering meals, but also providing socialization and someone coming in and checking in on these older adults.
She said they rely heavily on volunteers.
“Every single day they deliver our meals. We have almost 100 volunteers every month that are out delivering meals. We have, right now, 16 routes every single day, starting in January we will actually be having 17 routes,” Valent explained.
She talked about how one might qualify for Meals on Wheels.
“We have intakes and assessments that we do in the Senior Center. To qualify for Meals on Wheels, you are to be 60 and older, homebound, meaning not driving. And then unable to reasonably make meals for yourself or have a caretaker that’s there (who) can make meals for you.
“Once we get through those qualifications, our Meals on Wheels team goes out and does assessments in the home. We go over the paperwork process, ask them questions, get to know them a little bit better, let them know about our program and then we get them set up.”
She said everyday they serve on average about 175 adults and then during the week, for a whole week, they serve about 215 individuals.
The meals are made in their kitchen at the Cache County Senior Center.
Valent said they have a team that does a great job making meals and providing a diverse menu, they package the meals and get them sent out on the routes.
She said they need more volunteers to deliver the meals.
“You do have to be 18 to volunteer. So we have many different modes of volunteering that you can do, we ask most volunteers to be able to volunteer one hour, one day a week. We try and keep it so that each volunteer’s driving the same route, the same day every single week, which can be one of our truck routes, where you’re driving one of the county trucks, or one of our mini routes, which is where you’re driving your personal vehicle.”
Valent said they have the greatest need right now for the truck routes that start up in January.
To find out more, contact Sarah at sarah.valent@cachecounty.gov or stop by the Cache Senior Center at 240 North 100 East in Logan.