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Pinellas County Meals on Wheels looking for more volunteers
Kailey Tracy reports.
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. - Meals on Wheels of Pinellas County serves close to 850 seniors, and more than 1,400 are on the waiting list.
Organizers say they need more help.
Jacqueline Frehling, site coordinator at Gulfport Senior Center for Neighborly Meals on Wheels said county-wide, there are 25 open routes that need drivers.
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Meals on Wheels in Pinellas is part of Neighborly Care Network. Neighborly also serves close to 600 seniors in its eight senior cafés, like the one at Gulfport Senior Center. Seniors can get a free lunch and a free ride there too.
Frehling said between 60 and 100 seniors eat lunch there every day including 101-year-old Margaret Reilly.
Meals on Wheels of Pinellas County is looking for more volunteers.
"Everybody is very nice to you," Reilly said. "I don't hear very well. I don't see very well, but I can play cards. They tell me what the cards they threw down, and they're very, very polite," she said.
"A lot of times it's all hands on deck, you know, both entertaining, cleaning, serving, just doing a lot of wide varieties of helping to pack our Meals on Wheels," Frehling said.
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Frehling said they also need volunteers to drive seniors to medical appointments and to work in the cafes.
"The rewards of doing it, knowing that you're helping these people and the happiness that you see when you deliver those meals is just wonderful," volunteer Donald Speirs said. "We need more volunteers. Please come help us," he said.
There are 25 open routes that need Meals on Wheels drivers.
Frehling estimates they’re short about 50 volunteers county-wide.
"We're that touch point for families because a lot of times it's very hard for sisters and sons and daughters to be there on a daily basis, but we are there every day with a hot, nutritious meal. And we can sometimes be that force that, somebody is not home or somebody is not answering the door, and we make that phone call that helps the families know that my loved one needs some help," Frehling said.
"Some of these people, we are the only person they see," volunteer Jim Jordan volunteer said. "Some are very friendly. Some are pretty much incapacitated, and you have to kind of help them a little bit, but it’s rather rewarding to spend a couple of minutes, ask them how they’re doing," he said.
If you’d like to volunteer, call Neighborly Care Network at 727-573-9444. You can also call Neighborly if you want to get on the Meals on Wheels waiting list in Pinellas County.