Snowy, Icy Meals On Wheels Deliveries

With the recent snow storm, Senior Citizen Services was unable to deliver meals last Saturday, the 13th. The volunteers were scheduled, staff was ready, but with heeded warnings from Georgia Dept. of Transportation, we reluctantly canceled meal deliveries at 8:00 a.m. However, the good thing is that the Meals On Wheels Atlanta (MOWA) staff had already implemented the Emergency Plan.

The Emergency Plan calls for providing shelf-stable meals to clients in case we are not able to deliver their regular meals due to weather or any other ‘disaster’ reason. These meals are able to be eaten without the need for natural gas or electricity to heat them. The MOWA staff will deliver a new, shelf-stable meal to clients to replace the one they consumed Saturday later this week and early next week.

It’s always hard to make the call to not deliver meals; we know many clients depend on SCS and MOWA for their nutrition. With the emergency plan in place, it makes the decision of not delivering meals a little easier. And, with the roads icy and snowy as they were on Saturday, keeping staff and volunteers safe is also a factor that weighs heavily into the decision.

MOWA and Volunteer Services appreciate the dedicated volunteers who agreed to meet the day and elements, but we also appreciate their understanding of us wanting them to be in a safe environment when driving through the streets in the neighborhoods.

-- by Patrick O'Kane, Director of Operations