By Ashley M. Casey

Associate Editor

Like the hundreds of clients North Area Meals on Wheels serves each week, the majority of NAMOW’s volunteers are older adults, members of the population hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. With the need for meals soaring in Onondaga County and volunteers withdrawing to protect their own health, NAMOW is expressing its appreciation for its volunteers more than ever.

Despite the limitations of the pandemic, NAMOW Executive Director Jennifer Covert is engineering safe, socially distant ways to celebrate her volunteers. She distributed gifts to the volunteers for Volunteer Appreciation Week in April and has decided to convert the annual summer picnic to a drive-thru cookout.

“I just refused to let any of these events get ruined because our volunteers work too hard,” she said.

In a normal year, NAMOW’s summer volunteer picnic is a big bash with cookout food, games, raffles and Skippy’s Ice Cream Truck.

“Last year they attacked me with water balloons — that was their favorite thing to do,” Covert laughed.

There won’t be any water balloon fights this year, but the celebration will still take place July 30. NAMOW staff plans to decorate the building with balloons and banners, blast music and grill hot dogs and hamburgers for the volunteers, who can drive up to receive their meals and tokens of appreciation.

“It is not responsible for us to have the picnic this year, and we always have more than 50 attend anyways. It just breaks my heart to not be able to thank them for their selfless acts of volunteerism,” said Covert.

NAMOW typically has a stable of more than 300 volunteers. About half of them have stepped back during the pandemic because of health concerns.

“This place has been crazy since day one,” Covert said. “We’ve had a big portion of our volunteers — especially our kitchen volunteers — who are afraid to come in here. They’re seniors so they’re afraid of getting sick.”

Covert increased the hours for NAMOW’s 13 part-time paid staff and put out the call for additional volunteers.

“We’ve all put in extra hours. I’ve definitely had to put people on different days. We’ve had staggered schedules,” she said. “My staff has been really amazing. No one has taken any time off, they’ve never complained. We have a really good team here.”

Normally, NAMOW delivers a week’s worth of meals Monday through Friday.

“When it got a little bit worse here we decided to go to three days a week delivery. We were trying to social distance and that made it very difficult production-wise because we had to put out over 1,000 meals a day,” Covert said. “We’re still not confident — there’s risk for spreading this terrible thing.”

NAMOW’s headquarters on Church Street in North Syracuse are typically a social hub for the volunteers to grab coffee and chat while they wait for the kitchen crew to prepare their cargo. That has had to change in the time of coronavirus.

“I have changed this entire building into a social distancing kingdom,” Covert said.

The coffee break area is taped off and room occupancy signs are posted throughout, with arrows on the floor directing foot traffic. Volunteers and staff must complete a health questionnaire, have their temperature taken and wear face masks.

“I wrote a seven-page safety plan. Some of the volunteers are probably sick and tired of my rules and policies, but I know they appreciate that we are being safe. My job is to take care of them,” Covert said.

NAMOW’s client base has grown from about 240 to over 300 during the pandemic. Onondaga County refers new clients to the program and NAMOW has branched out beyond its usual service area of the northern suburbs because of the kitchen’s capacity.

Onondaga County has provided hand sanitizer and other supplies, while the town of Clay and volunteer groups have donated face masks for the NAMOW crew.

“Our kitchen volunteers really like the cloth masks because they’re easier to breathe in than the N95s. It gets hot in the kitchen and these ladies are about to pass out,” Covert said.

Despite the economic difficulties of the pandemic, the community has continued to support NAMOW. People who have been furloughed or laid off have joined the volunteer effort, while others have contributed to NAMOW’s ongoing bottle and can drive or offered monetary donations.

“People have been very generous through this whole thing. You’d think people would be saving money, but the community has stepped up,” Covert said. “Some of our volunteers actually donated their stimulus checks to us. It was humbling.”

Covert said NAMOW is hoping to return to delivering meals five days a week in August, which will allow for the delivery of more fresh meals and not just frozen or shelf-stable items. The organization is seeking more delivery drivers to meet demand.

To learn how to volunteer or contribute to North Area Meals on Wheels, visit namow.org.

“I’m proud to live in this community and it shows you how important what we do is to other people,” Covert said. “It’s awesome. It’s why we do what we do.”