CAMILLUS, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — It’s common for charities to reach out to the community in a plea for more funding and resources. But a local Meals on Wheels program is facing an unexpected challenge, and it’s not a lack of food or volunteers: it’s a lack of people to give food to.
For decades, E.C.H.O. Meals on Wheels in Camillus (the “E.C.H.O.” stands for Ecumenical Community Helping Others) has helped the elderly and disabled by delivering hot meals to their doorsteps. During the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers were serving about 150 meals a day. “Which for us is a larger number,” Chuck Kreis, the group’s manager, said.
Now, that number has dropped significantly, averaging between 60 to 85 meals daily (not everybody gets a meal every day, though).
People could leave the program for plenty of natural reasons: death, family members moving in, moving to a retirement home. But Kreis described this recent drop in clients, though, as “artificially low.”…