Due to lack of volunteers, Johnson County Meals on Wheels deliveries being reduced to 3 days a week

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Next week, changes are being made to Johnson County Meals on Wheels recipients.

Starting Monday, deliveries will be made 3 times a week instead of 5 due to a lack of volunteers. Those receiving meals will receive a warm meal on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and a frozen meal Monday and Wednesday.

Melissa Wahl is the director of Community Health and Nutrition. She said they currently have 90 volunteers to serve meals to 150 clients. She said during the summer months many of their volunteers take vacations, which can leave them shorthanded.

“When you start a week with 17 open routes, it’s daunting,” she said. “You wonder how all those meals are going to get delivered to those seniors.”

Wahl said the decision to make the change wasn’t an easy one. The meals being delivered are more than just food, it’s a second set of eyes on vulnerable members of the community.

“Volunteers are coming into the homes of seniors and providing not only a hot nutritious meal, but it’s also that social interaction, and they’re doing a wellness check.”

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