Meal-A-Day Makes Small Change to Weekly Menu

August 6, 2024 – Starting this week, Meal-A-Day will start a new Friday menu plan. Fridays will now feature a ‘Cold Lunch’.

“Right now we are looking at sandwichs, pasta salads, fruit, and maybe some chips.” said Director Amanda Dietlin. “Things that can be prepared the day ahead, and delivered without the need for Friday morning cooking.”

The Friday meals will be prepared by volunteer ‘prep teams’ on Thursdays. The prep teams come in around 11 AM and work to support the early rising cooks for the next day. They might chop vegetables, or prepare desserts. The ‘prep teams’ are very diverse, and float in and out each week. These valued team members want to volunteer, but may not want to get up early, may not want to be tied down to a cooking team, or may want to have freedom in their schedule.

Aside from Dietlin, Meal-A-Day is entirely powered by volunteers. A shortage of volunteers willing to work on Friday mornings prompted this change.

The morning cooking teams really need to be dedicated and work well with others. The success of the entire MAD program relies heavily on the cooking teams performance. They set the day in motion. If they are late, or there is a problem with the meal, then the volunteer drivers are late and then the meals are delivered late. And nobody wants to wait for their lunch.

The cooking teams arrive at the senior center at 7AM during the week, and work together to cook up meals for around 140 people Monday through Thursday. MAD is looking for cooks, and will be forming a new Friday team soon as a tean can be trained.

If you would like to volunteer, call Amanda at 903 885 1661.