The Salem Ministerial Alliance has taken over leadership of the community program to replace Project Bread during its temporary shutdown due to lack of federal funding.
President Rae Delao says the hot meal delivery during the first week is going well during the learning process.
“The city took the ball and kind of got everything going,” Delao said. “It just makes sense for the Ministerial Alliance to take that lead and take it out of the city’s hands, so that’s what we’ve done. We’re working with all the churches in our area. Those that we haven’t reached out to are more than welcome to reach out to us if they want to get involved and to volunteer.”
Delao says they now have one location to prepare the meals.
“St. Theresa has willingly and eagerly extended that space to us. We’re using a classroom and part of the hallway. While we bring the food to that center, we scoop it out and put it in the to-go containers. Then we divide it up into routes and the volunteers take them and deliver them to the seniors.”
There were 91 meals delivered to 73 locations on Wednesday as the number of Project Bread and Meals on Wheels recipients calling in for the meals continues. Salem City Hall will continue to take requests to be added to the list or to call to say you don’t need a meal on a certain day. You should call by four pm the previous day to cancel a meal. The number is 618-548-2222.
In addition to the catered main dishes, fruit and prepackaged deserts are being added to the daily deliveries.
A decision on how to handle Thanksgiving week is still under discussion.
Meanwhile, two Kinmundy churches say their meal preparation for the 18 to 24 meals they deliver is going well. They had already been doing delivery for Meals on Wheels for Project Bread.
Donations to help support the program are still requested through the Ministerial Alliance.
