Meals on Wheels has hit a speedbump.

In an effort to minimize contact with the shut-ins the organization serves, Meals on Wheels has gone to a once-a-week delivery system.

Starting this Monday, meals were delivered to residents for the entire week. The delivery included two cooked meals and three shelf-stable meals, according to Meals on Wheels representative Nancy Mayfield.

“We’re going to keep feeding them, but we’re doing our part to keep everyone safe,” said Mayfield. “There are a lot of issues to deal with for what we do. The people we deliver to are in the at-risk category and are the most vulnerable, but so are our volunteers who deliver the meals. Most of them are retired so we need to make sure to protect them too.”

Meals on Wheels serves around 200 shut-ins a day and had worked Monday thru Friday before adopting its new schedule this week. There are 13 routes that reach every part of Warren County.

Delivering meals is one key aspect of the service. The other is it gives meal recipients daily contact with another person.

“The biggest part is the visit and getting to see them face-to-face and check on their well-being,” said Mayfield. “That’s one way to see if everything is going OK or if something is wrong. Even without the deliveries we’re going to keep calling them every day to check on them. We still want to make sure everything is all right.”

Monday was a challenge for Meals on Wheels volunteers who packed their vehicles with a much larger load than usual. The shelf-stable food included canned soup, granola bars and peanut butter crackers.

“This has required a whole lot more planning,” said Meals on Wheels representative Meredith Jones. “Everybody has masks and gloves to provide as much protection as possible.”

Mayfield is hopeful the once-a-week deliveries can continue and an even more reduced schedule doesn’t have to be adopted if the COVID-19 outbreak intensifies.

“We hope we don’t have to cut back even further and maybe go to deliveries every other week,” said Mayfield. “You start to get into space issues then. Some people might not have enough room to store two weeks of food.”

Mayfield said volunteers are always needed, no matter the situation. If you’re interested in volunteering, call 473-3514.

“When life goes back to normal we’re still going to need volunteers,” said Mayfield.