Johnson County Meals on Wheels returns to 5-day delivery

IOWA CITY — Johnson County Meals on Wheels is back to delivering meals five days a week to seniors after temporarily reducing delivery days earlier this summer due to a volunteer shortage.

Cedar Rapids-based Horizons, which administers the program, said in a news release Monday that an “influx of volunteers” signed up to take on routes, allowing the organization to return to regular hot meal service five days a week.

Since June 5, Johnson County residents were receiving one hot and one frozen meal on Mondays and Wednesdays, and one hot meal on Fridays. The intent was for the frozen meal to be reheated the following day.

Horizons had 60 days to increase the base of volunteers in Johnson County, per an agreement with administrators of Older Americans Act funding, the release said. Melissa Wahl, director of community health and nutrition for Horizons, said the recruiting goal was accomplished ahead of the 60 day timeline.

“The people of Johnson County responded to our need in great numbers, and as a result, our wonderful clients are receiving hot meals and a wellness check every weekday once again,” Wahl said in a statement. “We cannot express how grateful we are for the support of this community.”

Horizons’ Meals on Wheels program delivers hot and frozen meals to thousands of community members who are elderly or disabled and mostly unable to leave their homes unassisted. Many rely on these meals not only because it’s difficult to do their own shopping, but also because their finances have gotten tighter as inflation worsened.

In the last few years, the number of people who rely on Meals on Wheels services has increased dramatically, The Gazette reported earlier.

“Clients are seeing higher costs, so they're reaching out to find out what resources are available to them, and we're seeing higher costs,” Wahl previously told The Gazette. “In order to be able to continue to take on the amount of clients that we do, it really comes down to funding or donation or even volunteers being able to help us.”

And while the main task of volunteers is to deliver meals, the volunteers also are conducting a wellness check and socializing with the residents. Wahl said the Meals on Wheels program helps make connections for seniors so they can continue to age in place.

Horizons continues to seek Johnson County volunteers, and anyone interested can sign up online at horizonsfamily.org/volunteer. Anyone with questions or who would like to do a ride along before signing up is encouraged to reach out.

There are 11 daily routes in Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty delivered between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Comments: (319) 339-3155; izabela.zaluska@thegazette.com