Monroe County Meals on Wheels, Inc.

Monroe County Meals on Wheels plans to provide superior nutritional support to any adult individual in Monroe County who is unable to shop and/or prepare meals for themselves, due to physical or mental disability, thus allowing them to remain safe and independent in their homes. We receive the majority of our referrals through our county Area Agency on Aging; however, we have a sizeable private client base. While their meals are priced on a sliding scale, no one is denied meals because of an inability to pay. With government dollars stretched thin and the size of the older adult population growing in our county, we aim to address the needs of the whole person. Through case management, including a psycho-social assessment, a home safety inspection, and other assessments, we assist our private clients with their needs outside of nutritional support. To combat social isolation, we have a telephone buddy program. Our pet program provides pet food, cat litter, and other tangible pet needs on a monthly basis. Grants have allowed us to expand this program to include wellness checks and immunizations. In 2020, we launched an oral hygiene program since oral health is closely tied to an individual's ability to eat wholesome food. We also began a client needs pantry for non-food items, and a minor home repair program.

We typically serve over 350 clients a week. Our meals come from Meals on Wheels of NEPA, who follow state nutritional guidelines for older adults. Their driver transports the meals to our office in special containers that maintain heat and cold. Due to COVID, we pivoted to a primarily frozen meal program in which clients receive their week of frozen meals in one delivery. This also includes fresh fruit, bread, and beverages. Those who do not have the capacity to manage frozen meals still receive a daily hot and cold meal. Currently we deliver throughout Monroe County.

Our volunteers, who deliver using their own cars without any compensation, are the backbone of our delivery service. We rely on nearly 200 volunteers to help up deliver meals over 19 routes in our mostly rural county. They arrive at our office, we load up the containers, and off they go to deliver the meals with a smile and a friendly word for the clients. When they return, they let us know if a client is not feeling well, doesn't look right, has someone new living with them, needs assistance with some other need, etc. Our volunteers are the "eyes and ears" for us, the clients' families, and the Monroe County Area Agency on Aging.

In the last few years, we noted our private pay clients had more and more needs not being met outside of meals. Unlike the Area Agency on Aging clients who have built-in case management, our clients had only been receiving nutritional support from us. With a case manager, we are now able to provide services similar to the Area Agency on Aging in terms of assessing our clients' multiple needs and coordinating with their families to procure needed services. The case manager constantly assesses client needs to develop in-house programs or to seek appropriate referrals to other agencies.

Our agency runs efficiently with minimal staff. The Executive Director primarily manages the finances, performs development functions, and executes the strategy set forth by the volunteer board. Our case manager evaluates all private pay clients, assists our county Area Agency on Aging with their referrals, and manages auxiliary programming. The Volunteer Manager recruits and schedules volunteers. Our Operations Coordinator assists the case manager with clients services, but also manages routes, coordinates meal orders, performs billing, and is the liaison for Community Health Choices . Our special events coordinator runs our pet program and works with the board to promote and execute fundraising events.

We work closely with Meals on Wheels of NEPA to develop menus that are appealing and nutritious for our clients. The kitchen also responds positively to clients' concerns and requests.

Our agency has a reliable volunteer pool managed by a manager who is very in tune with the volunteers in terms of scheduling appropriate routes. Routes are designed to promote volunteer and food safety, as well as to make the process as efficient as possible for the volunteer.

All of our clients receive some subsidy towards the cost of their meals - even the Area Agency on Aging clients. To help fund the difference, we rely on individual donations, which we solicit through two appeals a year. We also receive grants and do some fundraising.

During 2020, our program went from serving approximately 180 individuals a week to nearly 375. This includes congregate participants who either receive grab-and-go meals or a cold bagged lunch at one of the four centers open at this time. We implemented case management services to private clients, added veterinary care to the pet program, expanded the amount of pet food to be delivered, obtained two agency vehicles to relieve the burden on employees' vehicles if they have to fill in for a volunteer, added a telephone buddy program, and provided internship opportunities to public health students at East Stroudsburg University. We have also started a pantry box program with a local food pantry which we hope to expand across the county. This program extended not only our outreach to a specific community, but it also helped extend the outreach of the pantry.

We are active participants of the Pocono Mountains Hunger Coalition, with our executive director serving as chair. Among the coalition's goals is to start a community kitchen which will also prepare our meals. Currently our meals are prepared out-of-county and trucked in. Having our meals made locally will keep the county funds within the county; provide some local jobs; allow us to incorporate produce from our local farmers; and allow Monroe County Meals on Wheels to have full control over diets and menus thereby allowing us to respond better to client's preferences.