Houston County Meals on Wheels looking to add volunteer drivers

Good news for a local organization is in turn good news for you — a chance to change lives with just a few hours of your time.

The Houston County Council on Aging’s Meals on Wheels has received a grant that will allow it to provide a hot meal to 52 more people starting in July.

To get those meals to 52 more people, Meals on Wheels will need more volunteer drivers.

Started in 1977 in Warner Robins, Meals on Wheels delivers meals 52 weeks a year. Currently 163 people receive a meal, and about 76 are on a waiting list.

“With this new grant, we think we can knock out the waiting list in Houston County,” said Kenny Weaver, director of Meals on Wheels in Houston County. “It is very exciting.”

Weaver said that although there are 76 people on the waiting list, that usually about 30 percent will no longer require the service when contacted.

The Houston County Council on Aging’s Meals on Wheels mainly uses volunteers to deliver meals.

“It is simple. You can have a truck that is delivering 60 meals a day or you can have volunteers — maybe the only other person someone getting a meal will see that day. It is human contact. Volunteers are able to build relationships with clients,” Weaver said.

“Most of our clients are at a high nutrition risk, they have trouble either procuring food or preparing food. We guarantee that, Monday through Friday, they get a hot healthy meal,” Weaver said.

A route takes about 90 minutes. Meals on Wheels is very flexible with its volunteers’ schedules and have volunteers who work every day, once a week, once every two weeks, etc.

Organizations and businesses also volunteer, especially church groups and groups from the base. Weaver said that a group will commit to a day and a route and then arrange with their members to cover it.

To sign up to deliver and volunteer with Meals on Wheels, contact Alesha Mathis at 478-328-6070.

“I guarantee that you will get as much benefit out of it as a volunteer as the person you take the meal to,” Weaver said. “It is very rewarding.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Houston County Meals on Wheels looking to add volunteer drivers."