KING COUNTY, Wash. — A nonprofit is making sure seniors homebound during the novel coronavirus pandemic still have a special Thanksgiving meal to enjoy.
Community Dining, a program run by Sound Generations, delivered over 1,200 meals to seniors across King County Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
This year, Community Dining had to pivot and change the operations of the program because of the pandemic. Normally seniors would socialize with one another and enjoy meals provided by the program at their local senior or community center.
Now, volunteers deliver meals to seniors' homes.
"We've seen a huge number of older adults kind of coming out of the woodworks because of the recommendations to stay home and needing that type of assistance because it's far easier to order a meal then maybe to go grocery shopping," said Brittany Blue, chief marketing and philanthropy officer with Sound Generations.
This Thanksgiving, special holiday meals specific to the cultural communities they serve were delivered to seniors.
It was a busy day for kitchen staff and volunteers as the program continues to grow during the pandemic.
"Prior to the pandemic, we were only serving about 139,000 meals, and during this pandemic, we are actually on record to serve about 200,000 meals," said Blue.
"It's just really great to see the community at large coming together," said Blue. "You know the partnership of Kaiser [Permanente], the volunteers, our staff who I've been extremely wonderful throughout all this, just really stepping up to the plate to meet the increased demand."