Meals on Wheels of Metro Tulsa has volunteers back on the road on a regular basis after suspending their activities about a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Clients in Broken Arrow are now getting hot meals delivered three days a week. Meals on Wheels of Metro Tulsa Vice President of Community Relations and Development Bob Beard said volunteers haven’t been completely sidelined over the past year.
"We allowed them to be able to call the clients each day to do a wellness check call, to say, 'How are you doing? Is there anything you need? Did you get your meal?' Anything else just to check in, give them a word of encouragement and let them know that someone was checking on them," Beard said.
The switch back is because COVID-19 trends have improved, and getting volunteers back out there three times a week in other areas the organization serves is a matter of logistics.
"So, we're starting off slowly as we have to build back locations of distribution sites, re-engaging our volunteer force with new training, new protocols, everything that we need to make sure that the routes are done efficiently," Beard said.
Clients in other areas will continue to get frozen meals once a week as Meals on Wheels of Metro Tulsa ramps up its network of distribution sites and gets more volunteers on board over the next six to 12 months. The organization had 16 distribution sites in the area before the pandemic to serve around 2,000 clients. People interested in volunteering can visit mealsonwheelstulsa.org.
