More Than Meals When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, Cristi Twenter knew it would greatly impact the community, but she was especially concerned about the well-being of the hundreds of seniors depending on Edmond Mobile Meals for food each week. “Our clients are homebound, and they are the most vulnerable to the very negative outcomes if exposed to COVID-19,” said Twenter, executive director at Edmond Mobile Meals. “We still needed to make sure they had something to eat and didn’t have to worry about where their next meal would come from.” With the onset of mandatory quarantines and strict guidelines from the CDC, the organization had to completely shift their service model. They could not risk exposure for volunteers or clients with daily deliveries and personal home visits. For more than a year now, volunteers have dropped off five days worth of meals once a week. Each Wednesday, homebound residents receive bulk meals, salads, fresh fruit, side items and milk. They can also receive assistance through grocery delivery and errand-running services to get essentials like prescriptions and personal care items.
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“Like everyone else, we certainly had no idea it would last more than a year. We expected to keep our modified service through the summer, but we just weren’t able to fully reopen in a safe way,” said Twenter. “With our new model, our clients were able to shelter in place as long as they needed to without missing a meal.” This past January, the nonprofit partnered with local restaurants to provide seniors with fresh, hot meals two days a week, which provided an opportunity to not only bring variety to clients, but also to support local businesses struggling after a slow winter season and limited patron capacities. Despite the major challenges the organization faced, Edmond Mobile Meals did not miss a single week of service and delivered their one millionth meal in November 2020. Beyond nutrition, one of the founding principles of the nonprofit was to provide connection and well-being checks. “We know the face-to-face connection from our volunteers is sometimes the only other human interaction for our clients,” said Twenter. “We were really concerned because these seniors already suffer from a higher level of social isolation, and the pandemic just made it even more difficult.”
