An easy way to spread a lot of love and give back to your community is by becoming involved at your local Meals On Wheels (MOW) organization in Austin, Dallas, Houston, or St. Louis.  Through my many positive volunteering experiences with Meals On Wheels in Austin, I thought it would be beneficial to introduce you to MOW and present volunteer opportunities in a few cities MOW operates.

Why Meals On Wheels is a great place to volunteer:

Flexible volunteer schedule

Rewarding way to give back to the community

 Introduces your child/family to giving community (volunteerism)

Immediate benefits seen by you and the Client

Why I Became a MOWAM volunteer

Meals on Wheels and More is my favorite charity and place I choose to volunteer my time because it is immediately rewarding for both the volunteer and the person who is receiving donations. For years, I only donated money until last year when I began volunteering my time. It was easy to becoming involved and to sign-up.  I attended MOW’s brief training class, submitted a basic background check and was ready to go.  I normally deliver meals on Fridays during lunch with my 5 year old daughter Amelie.

For many of the people we delivered to, Amelie and I are the only people they see that day.  It was great to see the clients faces brighten when they opened the door to receive the daily meal.  From my daughter’s perspective, it has made her more aware of her neighbor’s lives and not to assume everyone has the same privileges that she does. Surprisingly, this was a great bonding experience between Amelie and I as it brought up interesting questions and conversations. It is also an ideal way to introduce your children to volunteerism. From my personal perspective during the deliveries I often think about my grandparents or even parents a few years down the road and how they would be if they did not have the family support.

You, the volunteer are much more to the recipients than just a nice face delivering a meal. You are a warm heart, a helping hand, a smile, a hello, and a caring connection.

Benefits MOW Clients Receive

Benefits MOW provides to its recipients are nourishment, a daily visit, and a smile. Additionally, MOW allows recipients to remain healthy and living in their own homes with dignity.  This fact is paramount.  As a MOWAM volunteer, I have been personally thanked on many deliveries with specific mention of how grateful they are for the delivered food which allows them to stay home and out of the rest home.

What MOW does?

“Meals on Wheels and More seeks to nourish and enrich the lives of the homebound and other people in need through programs that promote dignity and independent living.”

Meals on Wheels is a home-delivered, meal community, in Texas and nationwide. The primary population segment Meals on Wheels’ organization serves is the elderly, disabled, homebound, and in some cases, children in communities who face hunger and other hardships.

In Austin, there are over 6000 volunteers reaching around 4000 Austin residents in need. Over 1 million meals were delivered in 2010 with 90% of the effort being taken care of by volunteers.

In Dallas there are approximately  4000 volunteers reaching about to 4000 Dallas residents in need receiving over  1 million meals with about 50% of the effort being taken care of by volunteers.

In Houston at Meals On Wheels there is about 2% volunteer participation delivering 4500 meals a day on 52 routes.  Houston operates a once a month AniMeals on Wheels program or pet program which has 100% volunteer participation. Houston MOW also recommends and prefers volunteering at their Central Kitchen or Packaging facility which prepares the meals.

In St. Louis, approximately 1200 volunteers reach out to 820 St Louis residents with 100% of the effort done by volunteers. Most of the support money comes from Federal Employees who deduct a set amount from their paycheck.

Who makes up MOW / Who does it help?

Meals On Wheels are independent and locally-run. Each city’s MOW program is managed and operates a bit differently from one another.  Locally run MOWs in each city are members of the Meals on Wheels Association of America.  Austin Meals on Wheels, whose official name is Meals On Wheels and More (MOWAM)  has over 100 full-time and part-time employees along with over 6000 registered volunteers (90% of the meals are delivered by volunteers).  In a nice bit of synergy, it was great to discover one of the clients I worked for , WellMed, partners with Meals On Wheels at their Senior Community Center in San Antonio.

Here are a few stats for MOWAM Austin (these numbers a similar to other MOW location stats):

Austin Volunteer Stats FY 2009-20010:

• Number of registered volunteers:  6,079
• MOW (includes drivers and meal managers):  100,869 volunteer hours
• Percentage of meals delivered by volunteers:  90%
• Value Volunteer Hours in TX = $21.47 (represents how much value you contribute per hour volunteered)

Service Stats and Daily Operations:

Program Deliverables

• Meals Distributed*:  1,066,405
• Clients Reached:  3,302
• Number of Routes per Day:  245

Clients (benefit recipients):

• Live alone:  50%
• Low income:  78%
• Over the age of 65: 87%
• Female:  68%
• Male:  32%

Major Sponsors:

• Applied Materials, AMD, 3M, Frost Bank, Allstate, Silicon Labs, One OK Inc, Samsung and many more.

How an average volunteer day goes:

• You call your local MOW office to see if there are any routes which can be taken over for the day
• You pick-up on average 6 to 8 meals consisting of a hot and cold meal for each home. Each meal will be color coded for each client’s specific nutritional need. Pick up time is generally from 11am to 11:30am. You will place the hot meals in a cooler or heat-safe bag and place the cold meals in a small cooler.
• You will also be given a list of confidential locations to deliver to along with a map to follow. Each location may have special circumstances for each individual (ex: knock loudly hard of hearing / be patient, slow to the door / two small dogs and so on).
• Delivery will generally take 1 to 2 hours depending on the number of clients. Routes are structured in order by client location for optimal driving route.
• After you have completed your route you are instructed to securely dispose of the delivery list as clients and their addresses are confidential.

If you have any questions about Meals On Wheels, want to become involved, or want to talk about how Meals On Wheels might fit into your schedule please feel free to visit the website or call the numbers to a Meals On Wheels in your city. Also, each coordinator in Austin, Dallas, and Houston said they can schedule an intro / training class specific to you or a group of employees that you work with if you are interested. This would obviously build employee camaraderie, allow people in the community to see what great employees your company hires, and lend a helping hand to people in need in your community.

How to become involved with Meals On Wheels by City:

Austin :

Denise Jimenez (Volunteer Coordinator) – 512-476-6325 x 143 djimenez@mealsonwheelsandmore.org

Denise stated training is located in the East Austin office. The training involves a video, brief walk-through of introduction packet, an application, and a background check.  There are 14 different pick-up sites all over Austin. PALS is also a program available to Meals On Wheels clients which provides food, wellness checks, and other care for the Seniors pets. PALS partners with various Pet related Non-profits around Austin to help supplement care. You, a volunteer are also welcome to drop off any kind of pet food at Meals On Wheels main office.

Pick-Up Sites:

http://www.mealsonwheelsandmore.org/volunteer/volunteer-resources/meal-pick-up-sites/

PALS (Pets Assisting the Lives of Seniors) Info:

pals@mealsonwheelsandmore.org or 512-476-6325 or PALS.doc

More Austin information:

http://www.mealsonwheelsandmore.org/programs/meal-delivery/

Dallas :

Jennifer Faught (Volunteer Coordinator) – 214-689-2464 faughtj@vnatexas.org

Jennifer can set up a short training specific to individuals or employee groups and MOW application on the morning of delivery at their central office at 1440 W Mocking Bird, Dallas TX 75247. After completing, there are 22 pickup locations throughout Dallas and the surrounding area which you can pick up from. On a normal day, Jennifer says pickup is around 10am, with around 10 deliveries which last about 1 to 2 hours.  Volunteers or employee groups would be on a flexible plan where they could call in a few days ahead to schedule their volunteer times and to pick up their route.

More Dallas Info:

http://www.vnatexas.org/services/mow.php

Houston:

Denise Atkerson (Director of Volunteer Services) – 713-533-4922 datkerson@imgh.org

The Houston office works a little different, only about 2% volunteers run the delivery routes and they are a little longer than the other cities. However, there are a few delivery opportunities, but mainly there are ‘ride alongs’ where you can either ride with the paid drivers and deliver or follow them and deliver. One exciting opportunity Houston Meals On Wheels does have which other cites do not is once a month AniMeals On Wheels or Pet Meals On Wheels. This is to deliver pet food and products to the Meals On Wheels Seniors.

The recommendation for volunteers of Houston’s Meals on Wheels organization is to help package meals at their warehouse. This is also where training is conducted. They have offered to provide  special group training at their packaging facility for individuals or employee groups. The training will consist of hour long training, an application with background check, and volunteering at the package facility. From there they can explain and work with each employee on volunteering opportunities which fit their life and schedule.

More Houston info:

http://www.imgh.org/meals-on-wheels

Also include ‘MOWs Volunteer Preferences 2011 kl.doc’

St Louis:

Betty (Volunteer Coordinator) -314-268-1523

Betty stated the best thing to do is call the number above and leave a message with your name, your zip code, and your phone number. This organization is run 100% on volunteers so they do not have anyone assigned to the phones but do check the message regularly. Betty stated after you leave a message someone will contact you to help assign you to one of 15 chapters around St. Louis. Each chapter has a Program Director who will be your contact going forward. St Louis does offer a flexible schedule where you can call around a day before to pick up a route.

We got a taste of snow, sleet, and drable February 2011 in Austin, Texas.

We raked yesterday and have left over Leaf Bags, seven of them to be exact. First person who claims them in Austin can have them.

Alamo Draft House and Austin Parks Foundation presents Xmas Holiday Movies in the Park in 2010. This Austin event had holiday movies ‘The Grinch Stole Christmas’ and ‘Rudolph’ in Downtown Austin at Republic Square Park on 4th and Guadalupe St.

It was a chilly night but hundreds of Austinites showed up for the free Holiday Movies in the Park Event. We brought blankets, hot chocolate, and a mini picnick. The Alamo Draft House Mobile  Movie Van and their huge screen as seen below was awesome. The movies showed up crisp and clean on the screen and the sound was perfect.

There was two food vendors at the Holiday Movies in the Park event, Crepe Crazy and a Kettle Corn vendor. The entire park had a kettle corn aroma. I stayed strong and did not give in to crepes or kettle corn but it was hard.

If you would like to keep upto date with Austin Parks Foundation Events, find them on Twitter @austinparksfdn or http://www.austinparks.org .

‘The Grinch Stole Christmas’ Featuring ‘Santa Claus Grinch’:

She sang “Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer” on stage at a community event this Christmas, kept asking me to play it on the radio, drew Rudolph on a letter to Santa, and told Santa Rudolph was her most wanted gift this year. Lila and I are cherishing every minute of it because this won’t last forever.