Margot has begun to work alongside other volunteers to bring badly needed food to shut-ins once a month, using her cart or her bike.
One of the many invaluable services that the Kennett Area Community Services (KACS) provides is bringing food to families who face barriers to getting out, via the monthly KACS on Wheels (KOW) program. KOW brings a wide range of pantry and fresh items directly to seniors at Red Clay Manor and Friends, and to others living throughout Kennett. We already pack 75 bags of potatoes and onions given out each month as part of KOW. Now we help with deliveries too!
KACS puts A LOT of work into the program, keeping track of what each families needs - 1-2 pre-packed boxed of pantry items, as well as 3-4 bags of fresh produce, meat and dairy items - and then getting it to them. A small army descends on KACS on the day of deliveries (typically the third Thursday of each month) to load up the truck. Our cargo bike can barely accommodate the food given to just two families (see right) for deliveries into the community! On a second day (typically the fourth Thursday of each month), we join volunteers delivering food to about 20 seniors at Red Clay Manor. There, Margot hand delivers bags of potatoes and onions she packed to each senior.
How could we expand Margot's involvement? In addition to the rice (and soon, dried beans too) she re-packs, we hope to introduce recipe kits, like the coconut rice pudding kit to debut in the Winter Pantry. The Winter Pantry also gives us a chance to experiment with ways to teach Margot to pack a bag or box as efficiently and independently as possible, so that she might eventually help to pack some of the boxes given out. And of course, all of the tasks we are working on at Linden will eventually become so well-established that we can begin to generalize these to KACS, so that Margot can begin to volunteer alongside non-disabled volunteers.
In the meantime, watch for Margot riding with us for deliveries to KOW, on the 3rd Thursdays of most months!
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