The COMET Partners with Senior Resources, Others, to Deliver Meals to Elderly
(April 29, 2020) Columbia, SC – The Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority (The COMET) is partnering with Senior Resources to get much needed nutrition to the elderly in Richland County during the current pandemic. The COMET will deliver meals to approximately 100 seniors per week. The first deliveries were made Tuesday.
The COMET staff reached out to the Columbia Food Policy Committee, a taskforce of the City of Columbia, which includes Axium Farms, Foodshare and Senior Resources. Andrew Boozer, the executive director of Senior Resources, was also looking at ways to ensure that seniors would have food resources during COVID-19.
Senior Resources’ door-to-door service, Meals on Wheels, typically serves 600 seniors per week. That number has increased by 15% and the door-to-door service now has a waiting list due to increased demand for food because of the pandemic. The COMET will be picking up the overflow and making the deliveries in DART buses. The delivery service is free, and the costs are covered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) CARES Act funding. This will restore three to six bus operators, contracted from Transdev, who were recently furloughed in mid-March 2020 due to this pandemic.
“Since the pandemic began to spread in the Midlands, the need for home delivered meals has continued to grow. We were looking for a local partner that could help distribute meals and meet the needs of our community,” said Boozer. “John Andoh and the COMET team were able to make logistics possible to fill a void that we had to ensure seniors are receiving the nutrition they need to stay healthy.”
The partnership will help seniors in Richland County from Gadsden and Hopkins to parts of Irmo and Elgin. Each person served receives five frozen, nutritionally well-balanced meals delivered to their homes.
The COMET drivers trained with Meals on Wheels staff prior to the start of the delivery service. For safety, recipients were notified that the drivers would arrive in DART cutaway buses and dressed in The COMET uniforms with proper identification badges. They will be wearing face masks as well for COVID-19 precautions.
-More-
Senior Resources also has drive-thru locations across the Midlands which serve more than 12,000 meals per week. For the door-to-door service waiting list, applicants must reside in Richland County.
“Our partners right now include Senior Resources, Axium Farms, Foodshare and Columbia Food Policy Committee,” said John Andoh, Executive Director/CEO of The COMET. “We would like to expand this and ask other organizations to join us in Richland and Lexington Counties. They should reach out to me if interested.”
Andoh may be reached at jandoh@thecometsc.gov or by calling 803.255.7087.
For more information about Meals on Wheels, please contact Anne Shissias, Director of In-Home & Community Based Services, at 803.252.7734 x234 or ashissias@seniorresourcesinc.org.
###
About The COMET: The COMET is a service of the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority and provides countywide public transit services on 34 fixed routes, five ReFlex services, vanpool service for commuters, subsidy programs with Uber and Lyft and DART for transportation to grocery stores and at night, ADA complementary paratransit service throughout Richland and eastern Lexington Counties and eight Blue Bike bikeshare stations in Downtown Columbia. The COMET transports approximately 2.8 million passenger trips a year on a fleet of more than 80 buses, vans and trolleys. Transit services are provided under contract with Transdev, Enterprise Holdings, Lyft, Uber and Bewegen. For additional The COMET information, please call (803) 255-7100, TDD/TTY: 711 through the relay service, email: info@catchthecomet.org or visit www.catchthecomet.org.
Catch The COMET…We Will Take You There!
About Senior Resources: Senior Resources is a non-profit organization that coordinates services, provides resources and encourages the personal choices that allow Columbia's senior citizens to remain independent. All activities, services and programs of the agency are geared toward promoting independent living, with the goal of helping seniors remain in their homes as long as possible through the support of staff and volunteers, and delaying or preventing institutionalization.
Since 1967, Senior Resources has served Columbia's frail and elderly residents in three areas:
1) In-home services, including Meals on Wheels, home care, respite care, senior companion services, and case management;
2) Community-based services, including congregate meals, wellness centers, transportation, and physical fitness;
3) Volunteer services, including the Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent programs.
With local, state and federal government funding, as well as contributions from United Way, personal donations and fundraising activities, Senior Resources offers a variety of programs so that our clients can select the assistance they need to maintain a healthy and independent lifestyle. With the support of our staff and volunteers, our services touch the lives of more than 4,000 Midlands residents.
