Columbia County is working to help ensure those that can’t leave their houses receive meals with the senior meal delivery program.
Janet Wheatley, programs and events manager for the county, said this free program began 15 or so years ago, serves between 135-140 meals a day Monday through Friday, unless it’s a holiday.
“Those are homebound individuals that get those meals,” Wheatley said. “We do about 2,700 meals a month and about 30,000 meals per year. We also do meals at the senior center for the seniors that attend at the senior center daily as well.”
The program was first started due to the large number of homebound seniors in the county who either have families working or nobody at home, Wheatley said. The meal delivery program is so popular that there is a waitlist, Wheatley said.
“It’s just one meal, so it will cover either their lunch or their dinner,” Wheatley said. “There was a need for it in the county and there continues to be a need. We have a waiting list right now and our goal is when the new budget comes out in July to get everybody off of that waiting list and serve this coming year probably an extra 30 meals a day. So up to, that’s 170 meals per day.”
The food is prepared at the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and then picked up and taken to the senior center, Wheatley said. From there the staff at the senior center puts the meals into containers and then it’s delivered to the recipients. The meals vary each day and can include a variety of items, including a hamburger with different condiments, chips and a cookie or brownie.
“We have four drivers that drive these meals, and the county is divided up, so we cover the entire county for the meals, so anywhere from Harlem over to Martinez and Evans,” Wheatley said. “So, there’s people in all those areas that we serve.”
There is no cost for seniors to sign up for the home delivery meal program, which is free of charge, Wheatley said. To sign up for the program, seniors need to contact the senior center at 706-556-0308 and the staff will provide the person with the home-delivered meal request form and go over the process and details with them.
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
