What a difference a month can make. In early March we were working with our program partners on spring and summer programs. We were also short a staff member and wondering how we were going to get everything done. We knew God would provide us a new staff member and are excited to have Wes on our team, but still training someone in one of our busiest times of the year, had us running. Fast forward just a few weeks and all of our programs were cancelled and we were looking for ways to continue to make a difference in our community yet maintain social distancing and keep our staff safe and employed. So what are we doing during these uncertain times?
We started delivering meals for Meals on Wheels of Central Indiana. Meals on Wheels of Central Indiana delivers approximately 600 medically tailored meals each day to clients who are shut in due to aging or other health related issues. Clients receive a cold lunch and hot dinner each day. In addition, every Meals on Wheels delivery volunteer does a welfare check on clients and reports any abnormalities to Meals on Wheels staff for follow up. Meals on Wheels relies almost exclusively on volunteer drivers for their deliveries. Many of the volunteers are retired and falling into the high risk category for Coronavirus, have suspended driving. At the same time, the Meals on Wheels client list has grown. We are delivering two routes, five days a week for Meals on Wheels. We are happy to be putting the resources God has provided us to the benefit of those in our community.
Our staff alternate driving routes and working from home. On our route days, we have one staff in the office in the morning and one in the afternoon. This way we only have one person in the office at any given time. While in the office, we are taking care of facility and equipment needs. At home, we are staying in touch with our teachers and program partners to see what we can do to help during these times of uncertainty. We are following up with our summer program partners to help them prepare for summer programming.
We have been adapting many of our nature education activities and have posted these to our website as Stay-at-Home Activities. These are outdoor activities parents and teachers can use to teach outdoor skills such as map & compass, plant & tree identification, Leave No Trace, Ecosystems, and we are adding more each week.