Despite the closure of all eight Wood County Committee on Aging locations, the senior centers continue to
provide daily meals during the coronavirus pandemic.
Each center has been closed to the general public since March 13, which has prompted a shift in meal
preparation.
Instead of the typical congregate meals for seniors, the center has shifted all meals to home-delivered.
Traditional hot entrees served at lunch are being packaged and distributed to seniors at their homes.
Frozen-meal options are also available for evening and weekend meals in two-, five- and seven-pack
options. Those are delivered in bulk once per week.
“The meals themselves are no more than we were preparing, it’s just everything now needs to be packaged
up. So I’ve created three new routes coming out of the production kitchen,” said Angie Bradford, the
center’s Director of Food Service.
Bradford has added three routes to the intra-Bowling Green deliveries, raising the total number to nine
routes.
The delivered meals have hovered around 650 to 660 prepared entrees per day, while the center also sends
out nearly 1,000 frozen meals per week.
Prior to the closures due to COVID-19, the center typically served 800-850 meals — which included
home-delivered and congregate meals.
“I have changed the menus just a bit. We had always served a choice of two entrees for both
home-delivered and congregate meals. We’ve went down to one entrée for the time being because we’ve had
such an influx of people beginning meals,” Bradford said.
“And we have a variety of five or seven meals for frozen options.”
The frozen options, which are typically pre-packaged from Gordon Food Service, are now being prepared in
the kitchen, portioned, and packaged for delivery due to limited supplies now available at GFS.
“I have seen problems getting the food that we need. Our frozen meal entrees that we use for holidays and
weekends are all out of stock at Gordon Food Service, so we’re having to prepare our own frozen meals,”
Bradford said.
“They will get their food, but it might not be what was on the menu.”
With regard to safety, the center has also adopted a new protocol for home deliveries.
Each resident receiving a delivered meal has been asked to set up a table or chair just inside or outside
their door for the deliverer to leave the prepared meal.
“We still want to hear or see the client so we can do that safety well check on them daily. But we don’t
want to jeopardize their health or our volunteers’ health,” Bradford said. “So we’re just dropping and
going.”
Volunteer help, which is typically comprised of Bowling Green State University students and community
volunteers, are handling most of the delivery routes. However, all unpaid help is being held out of the
kitchen for the time being.
Only paid staff is preparing food during the closures.
“I’m only allowing paid staff into the kitchen currently because I know that they’re well aware of the
health and safety of the clients,” Bradford said.
Paid staff, after cleaning and disinfecting during the week, have also begun to handle some of the
Bowling Green delivery routes with less work available due to the closures.
The center has not accepted any new volunteers at this time, but those interested in volunteering can
reach out by calling Wood County Senior Center at 419-353-5661.
