Grundy County Meals on Wheels seeks volunteers for delivery

Meals on Wheels in Grundy County is in need of at least an additional 10 volunteers to deliver food as other volunteers return to their seasonable jobs and school.

Nutrition Director Patty Strahan said Grundy County has about 20 volunteers able to deliver and serve food across the county when it typically has between 30 and 40 volunteers.

Meal volunteers are needed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 14, and Thursday, Aug. 24, in Coal City; 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15, in Mazon; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, in Minooka; and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays in the lunch cafe at Saratoga Towers in Morris, 1700 Newton Place.

Meal packers and sorters are needed from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. every Thursday and 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. every Friday, and volunteers to aid with registration are needed the first Monday and second Tuesday of each month at Saratoga Towers.

Drivers are in need in Coal City on Mondays and Fridays, Gardner and Mazon on Mondays, Gardner on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then Morris and Mazon on Fridays, then a solo-Morris route on Thursdays, and as a backup driver in Minooka on days needed.

Strahan said Meals on Wheels in Grundy County has more than 80 people registered to the program, although not everyone receives meals every day. It covers all of Grundy County, with routes in Morris, Minooka, Gardner, Goose Lake, Mazon, Coal City, and the little communities in between.

“There’s the ability for someone to take a route on a certain day and a certain route, and that would be lovely,” Strahan said. “Even once a week would be wonderful, but we know people are busy and can only do every other week. The commitment doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It can be doing a few here and doing a few there.”

Meals on Wheels delivers Monday through Friday every week, usually starting deliveries at around 10:15 a.m. and going until all the food is given out.

Strahan said there’s a community-building element to the job, and people never realize how important their volunteerism is until they start doing it. Many times, a Meals on Wheels volunteer is the only person the person receiving the meal sees all day.

“It can lead to a lifelong friendship,” Strahan said. “Our volunteers don’t intend to but there’s always favorite relationships that develop between them. Yes, you’re doing a service by bringing them food but also, you’re sometimes the only person they see all day. It’s almost like a well-being check.”

Since the program is registered through the Grundy County Health Department, the people at Meals on Wheels can let the Health Department know if someone isn’t eating, if they aren’t acting normally or if the food is building up in the apartment.

“They get to know people and get to know when they need assistance,” Strahan said. “We can step in and call the family.”

To volunteer, contact Linda Reiter at 312-207-5290 or lreiter@cnnssa.org or call the office at 815-941-1590.