Volunteers are needed to deliver meals once a week or every other week at lunchtime (between 11am and 1pm). Routes take about an hour. Substitute drivers also needed. Please call 301-251-8885 and leave a message requesting volunteer information. Someone will call you back as soon as possible! Thank you.
Excerpts from our Volunteer Handbook:
The meals we deliver are vitally important for several reasons. First, the food assures a well-balanced and nutritious meal for individuals who are unable to shop or prepare meals for themselves. Second, your daily visit is very important. Your friendly smile and a few minutes of conversation provide a connection to the outside world. Your visit may be the highpoint of the day for a person who rarely gets out. Third, home-delivered meals help to make it possible for an individual to stay home rather than move to a nursing home. Here are a few procedures to make your volunteer experience as pleasant for you and as beneficial to the participants as possible:
SCHEDULING: If you are unable to deliver meals on an assigned day, first try to find someone to substitute or switch days with you. A list of drivers and substitute drivers will be provided to you and updated quarterly in our newsletter. Please remember that you are responsible for finding your own substitute.
DELIVERY: Arrive at the Black Rock Center for the Arts around 12:00pm to pick up the meals (we just ask that meals are delivered BY 2:00PM). CHECK THE ROUTE NOTEBOOK FOR ANY CHANGES, CANCELLATIONS AND OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION. Please make a note in the notebook if you had any problems. The note should be followed up with a phone call to the Service Coordinator (301-706-0262).
CANCELLATIONS: Participants have a standing order for meals. It is their responsibility to call Meals on Wheels with any cancellations or changes. They may leave instructions for the meals to be delivered to a neighbor or rental office. Meals cannot be left outside of a participant’s door, even if a cooler is provided. If a participant is not home when you arrive, please leave one of the prepared notes on the door (“you were not home” notes are in each notebook). After you have completed delivery, please call the Service Coordinator (301-706-0262) to let us know the participant was not home.
CONTRIBUTIONS: Participants are not charged for the meals they receive. Instead, they are asked to make an affordable contribution toward the cost of the meals. A letter is sent to each participant monthly stating the number of meals s/he received, the cost of the meals and a request for a contribution toward this amount. Contributions are sent to the Montgomery County Senior Nutrition Program or directly to Meals on Wheels. Volunteers are not required to handle money. Please do not accept payment from any participants.
PARTICIPANT’S OTHER NEEDS: If an individual needs additional help, please call the one of the Intake Coordinators. They will be able to refer the participant to other sources of help such as volunteer shopper, transportation, or financial assistance.
FOOD HANDLING On arrival at participant’s home: 1. Provide whatever assistance is needed. Encourage participants to eat the hot food immediately. If they prefer to eat the hot meal at night, they should put it in the refrigerator right away. 2. Encourage participants to date any food that will not be eaten immediately, or date it for them if they would like. 3. Suggest to participants that they refrigerate leftover perishable food immediately after the meal. This includes meat and main dishes, cooked vegetables, puddings, milk and juice. 4. Encourage participants to discard food if not used within a few days.
HOLIDAYS AND BAD WEATHER The following days are annual Montgomery County holidays on which Meals on Wheels will not be delivered. Frozen meals will be provided the day before each of these holidays: New Years Day, Columbus Day, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Election Day, President’s Day, Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day and Friday, Independence Day, Christmas Eve, Labor Day, Christmas Day. If Montgomery County Schools are closed or have a delayed opening because of inclement weather, meals will NOT be delivered. To find out if schools are closed, you can call 301-279-3673 for a taped telephone message, check your local TV or radio news stations, watch MCPS Comcast cable TV Channel 34, FIOS Channel 36, or check on the web at www.MCPS.K12.MD.US or www.Schools-Out.com. Usually, the announcement is made no later than 6:00am (or the night before if possible). Please note that there are some “no classes for students” days on which we still deliver meals! Check with the Service Coordinator if you have any questions.
