NORTH SYRACUSE — Adamant about their mission to provide meals to senior residents across northern Onondaga County, North Area Meals on Wheels did not allow COVID-19 to interfere with their operations. In the fall of 2020, over 128,000 meals were prepared and delivered.
Though the pandemic served undeniable hardship across the world, NAMOW Executive Director Jennifer Covert prefers to see the silver linings. Even before the pandemic, food insecurity overwhelmed Onondaga County. The Onondaga County Health Department released the 2019-2021 Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan in 2019, showing that more than a quarter of Onondaga County residents are food insecure. NAMOW works to combat this and provide nutritious, balanced meals to residents in need.
“[COVID-19] made us recognize that there are many people out there that need our services, and they didn’t really know they needed it until COVID. We have a lot more clients now than we ever did, we’re definitely on an upward trend,” Covert said. “So looking forward, we’re just going to need to go out there, identify and find all these people in areas that we are kind of under-serving right now, and let them know, ‘We’re here. We’re here to help you and serve you meals, with a pandemic, without pandemic.’”
NAMOW, a volunteer-based organization, relies on community effort to help serve seniors, the homebound and disabled people. According to Covert, about half of NAMOW’s 300 volunteers — who are mostly other seniors — stepped back due to COVID-19 because of the surrounding health and safety concerns. Despite the loss of their volunteers, NAMOW was able to sustain their operations and did not close once during the pandemic. The organization is now back to 300 volunteers but is always in need of more.
Covert looks forward to seeing NAMOW grow and return to being the social space it once was. With a 100% vaccination rate of staff and volunteers, she is excited to see volunteers return to their headquarters on Church Street in North Syracuse, taking precautions including temperature checks and social distancing to maintain safety. Starting in August, volunteers will be able to go back into clients’ homes. The in-house visits allow clients to receive their meal and foster a space for conversation.
“Every single day we’re that friendly face that shows up at their door, and we’re giving them food, yes, but we’re also giving them that socialization they don’t get, and they don’t feel so alone because we’re there saying, ‘Hi, how are you doing today?’ That’s very important for their mental health, as well as their physical health with the food,” Covert said.
The stress of the pandemic helped bring the staff and volunteers together, Covert said. Together, they took on the responsibility of providing consistent meals while ensuring the safety of themselves and their clients. At the start of the pandemic, NAMOW shifted from delivering meals five days a week to three days a week, but returned to five-day delivery last August. She hopes to continue returning operations back to normal as COVID-19 regulations loosen.
Looking past the pandemic, Covert asks that neighbors keep an eye out for community members who can benefit from NAMOW’s services.
“Let’s all watch out for our neighbors, our friends and our friends of friends, and see if there’s anybody who really could use our services. Advocate for them, tell them about [NAMOW], have them call us or call us for them, because a lot of times they just need that extra help or somebody to push them and say, ‘Hey, there’s [NAMOW], they can help you, they can do this for you,” she said.
To learn how to volunteer or contribute to North Area Meals on Wheels, visit namow.org.
“Seniors need advocating more than anybody. They were here before us, and it’s our job to take care of them. Someday I’m going to be a senior, and I want someone to take care of me,” Covert said. “I think if I didn’t work here, I’d probably volunteer.”
