Volunteering is a Tremendously Rewarding Experience
(Urbanna, VA) – Bay Aging is seeking individuals to give of their time as volunteers in our Meals on Wheels program. Typically, volunteers serve approximately two to three hours once a week delivering meals to the seniors in your community. However, we are extremely flexible and can arrange a volunteer schedule that works for you. While we always have volunteer opportunities throughout Bay Aging’s Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck service area, currently our most acute need is in Mathews County.
Bay Aging’s Meals on Wheels program accomplishes much more providing sustenance to homebound seniors. Meals on Wheels volunteers are a lifeline for seniors, provide friendship and safety checks for the people they serve. In 2018, Bay Aging staff and Meals on Wheels volunteers delivered over 166,000 nutritious meals to frail, homebound seniors throughout the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula.
Carol Hamlett has been a Meals on Wheels volunteer for seven years and has found it to be one of the most rewarding experiences in her life. “Without Bay Aging, I would never have known what a rewarding experience volunteering could be,” Carol observed. “It makes me feel so good when I go into someone’s home and their face lights up because I’m there.”
Ken Rogers, Director of Bay Aging’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), noted, “Almost every county we serve has a rapidly growing senior population and, in many cases, Meals on Wheels deliveries are the only way these seniors can continue to live independently in their own homes. For example, by next year, Mathews County will be 32 percent age 65 or older and many of these seniors live alone.”
Laura Matthews, Bay Aging’s Active Lifestyle Center Manager in Mathews, said, “We are thankful to Mathews County Public Schools for the incredible, home-cooked meals they prepare for our seniors every week. Unfortunately, without more volunteers it is difficult to reach as many of our neighbors as we need to.”
For more information about becoming a Meals on Wheels volunteer, please call or email Laura at (804) 725-7850 or lmatthews@bayaging.org.
About Bay Aging:
For over 40 years, Bay Aging has been caring for older adults and people with disabilities in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula with meals, home and personal care, public transportation, home repairs and living options. Our goal is to help people live independently in their own homes and communities surrounded by their own things and, wherever possible, their families and friends. Our top priority is to keep independence, home and community at the hub of life in the rural counties we serve.
Last year Bay Aging’s services affected over 26,000 lives! Every year, we:
People want to age safely in their homes and communities. To help them realize this goal, Bay Aging’s Housing Division owns and operates ten income-restricted senior apartment complexes throughout the region providing safe and affordable homes for 365 full-time residents. Additionally, residents benefit from receiving the social supports they need to ensure healthy, independent living.
Bay Aging’s health division provides in-home care and companionship services and transitional care services for recently discharged at-risk, chronically ill patients through our VAAACares® program. Adult day care provides a safe haven for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other disabilities so that they can thrive and live with their families longer. The award-winning Veterans Directed Care program provides essential support services for nursing home eligible veterans of all ages who want to continue living at home.
