A New Service for the North Branford Community
A consortium of community organizations, government service providers and hard working volunteers have joined together to provide meals on a temporary basis for home bound North Branford residents. The North Branford Food Delivery program, initiated by Alice Lehr and Diane Farley, will provide two meals a week to any age residents on a short-term basis who, because of an injury or illness, are unable to leave their homes.
Alice and Diane, long-time volunteers at the Branford Community Dining Room, recognized the need for temporary food delivery to North Branford residents who are temporarily home bound.
"The Branford Community Dining Room has had this service for a long time," said Alice, "but increasing demand has made it impossible for them to serve the North Branford community."
To address this need, the Northford and North Branford Congregational churches, the Northford and North Branford Women's Clubs, VNA Community Health Care, the North Branford Rotary, the North Branford Senior Center and volunteers well-known to the community, the NB Food Delivery program will prepare and deliver two meals a week to eligible residents.
"There is a real need in our community to help residents who become homebound temporarily and have no family or friends to assist them," said JoAnn Begley of the VNA Community Healthcare. "The NB Food Delivery will provide services while they are waiting for more permanent service providers to step in."
The organizers have called upon many different groups to get the resources needed to get this program started. They have a commitment for food donations from the Branford Community Dining Room and the Connecticut Food Bank; the NB Rotary has agreed to provide a refrigerator and the NB Congregational Church has promised a grant for seed money.
"Everything is coming together quickly," said Diane. "We have a core group of volunteers who have jumped in to organize this program and we are excited to get it up and running and hope to begin at the start of the New Year."
The Senior Center and VNA Community Health Care will help to identify and assess residents who need the service. Food deliveries will be free to eligible residents, but donations will be gratefully accepted. More volunteers are needed to get the program going.
"We need more cooks, kitchen helpers and delivery drivers," said Alice. "We are also looking for donations of kitchen staples, food supplies or gift cards."
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 25 at 7 p.m. at the NB Congregational Church. All are welcome. For further information, to volunteer or donate, call Alice Lehr at 203-488-7126. If you are in need of this program or would like to make a referral, please contact The North Branford Senior Center and speak with Judy Barron at 203-315-6017.
