No one wants to be on a waiting list, but the local Meals On Wheels program has maxed out its current routes and is at the point of having to put applications on hold. The answer is to add another route, but it’s not that simple.

“A solution would be for five businesses to come forward and pick one day a week to deliver,” said Linn Hogg, director of Meals On Wheels and RSVP of Central Kansas. “This doesn’t mean that an individual couldn’t do the same because there are already several individuals who deliver weekly or bi-weekly.”  

She noted that when a business chips in they could tap five, 10 or 15 volunteers to help. That would mean only delivering every fifth, 10th or 15th chosen day of the week.

The program currently delivers eight routes in Great Bend and one route in Hoisington and each has the capacity to serve 10 individuals. “The specially designed hot and cold bags used by each route can hold just 10 meals,” said Hogg.

“However, it’s not just about the capacity. The volunteer(s) who deliver take off from work or an activity and 30 to 45 minutes is sometimes all the time they have,” she said. “Ten clients can sometimes exceed that time. There is no way that we want to put that time crunch back onto our volunteers.”

To volunteer or for more information, contact Hogg at 620-792-1614 or at hoggl@bartonccc.edu.