Several years ago, I was transitioning out of the medical field and was focused on finding more mission-based work in the community. Through a friend working at Meals on Wheels, I learned more about the nonprofit organization’s mission.
While I was familiar with the focus on home-delivered meals, she made me aware of all the services Meals on Wheels offers to the homebound and disabled seniors it serves. Every meal delivery is an opportunity for volunteers to provide wellness checks, connect with seniors and help them maintain dignified and independent living through dietary consultations, pet food delivery, home safety needs and Alzheimer’s services.
I joined Meals on Wheels San Antonio as a community engagement coordinator two years ago, when the pandemic had led to a widespread decrease in volunteer participation at the same time as the needs of our aging community had increased. This posed a daily challenge for our team to ensure that we fulfilled the guarantee to deliver nutritious meals and wellness checks to our homebound clients.
This challenge was also a unique opportunity for me to weigh in with strategies for a new approach to our operations and to tackle reengagement efforts from a new perspective. It’s been fun to get creative and take volunteer feedback into account as we’ve worked to reinvigorate past partnerships and bring new volunteers on board.
In my role, I help fulfill the need for community support by showing people how easy it is to volunteer with Meals on Wheels San Antonio. We also talk about every volunteer’s importance, whether they deliver meals or help in another way. For example, our Friendly Visitor service offers fun opportunities for volunteers who cannot commit to lunchtime meal deliveries by pairing them with homebound clients to alleviate isolation.
My experience in the medical field gave me the tools to multitask and embrace a role where no day looks exactly the same. My experience with advocating for patients has also transferred over to my volunteer-facing role because I feel passionate about using volunteer feedback as a guide to better serve our clients and continue evolving the opportunities for volunteers to help deliver more than a meal.
Through my role, I’ve realized I am very logistics-minded because there are many things to consider when putting together team-building volunteer opportunities for large groups and ensuring regular meal delivery volunteers have routes that fit their availability and meet their needs so they stay engaged.
My role also includes working with corporate and community groups to have routes they can sustainably deliver and also feel empowered to recruit, train and run their own meal delivery volunteer team.
Our volunteers have hearts of service and donate more than their time when delivering to our clients. They give friendship and care to every person they interact with. The value they add to our clients’ lives in those connections is immeasurable, especially when you see meaningful organic relationships form. Some of our long-time volunteers consider the clients on their route to be family, and we know clients say the same thing about them too.
At Meals on Wheels, we greatly value our volunteers. We would not exist without them, and I get to focus on volunteers and clients having the best possible experience every time they interact. I highly encourage everyone to volunteer at least once. Often, it’s just that one time that a person needs to see and feel the difference they can make in other people’s lives.
