NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Meals on Wheels, the nation-wide program that delivers hot meals to senior citizens, is seeing a major increase in demand in Tennessee, as COVID-19 forces seniors to stay at home.
"We are serving needs to a larger capacity than we’ve ever served before," Lacey Aviles, who oversees the state's Meals on Wheels partners through the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability, said. "Basically, we're doubling the amount of clients we need to serve, sometimes tripling, and serving clients that we have never heard from or served before."
Aviles said the virus has changed how organizations give help. She said many groups, instead of delivering a hot meal every day, are delivering a hot meal and four frozen meals. That limits deliveries to one day a week, and limits exposure to a vulnerable senior. She said the Commission is also creating a phone line where volunteers can check in on clients, since, for some seniors, the every-day deliveries are their only social contact.
"We don't want any of our seniors to feel isolated or alone," Aviles said. "We’re also starting a telephone reassurance program state-wide, where we make phone calls to vulnerable seniors."
All of these efforts rely on volunteers, but Aviles said the majority of their normal volunteers are seniors themselves, and are now staying indoors.
For information on how to help, you can head to the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability website.
