LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A program that helps seniors in Louisville needs more volunteers. Louisville Metro’s Senior Nurtrition program provides lunchtime meals at meal sites and delivers to homebound seniors via Meals on Wheels.

Meals on Wheels volunteer Coordinator Eric DeMunbrun helps to deliver food to homebound seniors across Louisville.

“I have a job that lets me be out and be interactive with kind of the clients that we serve and kind of see firsthand how our service impacts them,” said DeMunbrun.

Last month, the program provided 30,000 meals across the Louisville area. The program uses grant money to pay a local caterer to prepare meals every morning.

“It helps a lot of seniors in need that maybe don’t have any other outlets for food or regular meals obtain that and it also allows us to keep an eye on the seniors that may be vulnerable for, you know, incidents when they’re home alone,” said DeMunbrun.

But to ensure the meals keep moving, they need more volunteers.

“We always need helping hands. It’s a big, big program, as I said. You know, it serves all of Louisville, so we’re always in need of that extra support for sure,” DeMunbrun said. 

He said they have flexible schedules and different volunteer opportunities. In addition to delivery, volunteers can also help out at what they call congregate meal sites, where seniors can collect their ready to eat lunch.

“I think everyone would tell you that’s the best part of it is getting to interact with the seniors in need. It really does make their day. It means a lot just knowing that people care enough to come out and help them, you know, just have their meals, you know, say hey to them, check in on them,” he said. 

Over time, he said, volunteers build a rapport with the seniors and help them with more than just food delivery. 

“You know, they might ask you to like, bring their trash and they might need help in their kitchen, you know, like moving things, things of that nature. So it’s really nice to be able to kind of develop a connection with someone like that just by basically bringing them a meal on a weekly basis. I think that’s a really special part of the program,” he said.

In order for seniors to receive these meals, they must be approved by Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency. Then they will be put in contact with Louisville Metro’s Senior Nutrition Program.

To learn more about volunteering, call DeMunbrun at 502-574-5161.