Iona Meal Services



It's been a while since I last posted in my blog but I have indeed kept up with my goal of trying out new places to serve within the Washington, DC area. I have been on a self proposed hiatus from my service activities over the last two months. It was getting hard to manage four activities a month in addition to just trying to live. The months of May and June have just been really chill for me for the most part. The winter months and early spring were quite busy as far as service related activities. I even got some new people to join my cause, which was awesome. In July I plan to visit DC Central Kitchen and the Ronald McDonald house.

On a cold blustery day in February, my niece Tyti, friend Miatta and her sister hopped in my car and drove to Iona Services in the upper northwest area of DC. Iona, established in 1975, provides much needed services that impact the elderly community in this area. Iona's mission is to support people as they experience the challenges and opportunities of aging. They educate, advocate, and provide community-based programs and services to help people age well and live well. The organization envisions a community that celebrates, values, respects and protects the contributions and possibilities of every individual, including older adults. Iona handles an increasing number of requests for guidance on medical care, public services and other social assistance. The program also provides home delivered meals to older adults in the District of Columbia who have difficulty shopping for or preparing meals. We were at Iona that day to do just that, deliver prepared meals to elderly individuals across the DC area.

We arrived at Iona and spoke to the point of contact for the program, who gave us more information about how the day would go. We were given a list of eight individuals to deliver food to, which might seem like allot but it was not because all the deliveries were made in the same area. The longer list of deliveries was a result of no other volunteers showing up for that day from DC cares. Not too long after we received the list, the food truck arrived and we began to bag up the meals. Each individual received both a hot and cold meal for the day in addition a piece of fresh fruit and something to drink like milk or ensure. Once we secured everything in the car, we set off to deliver the meals and everything went without a hitch! The clientele we delivered too were all very grateful for the food. They mentioned how they thought it was sooo lovely that we were taking time out of our day to do this for them. We delivered to one individual who was deaf and another who was blind, which made me feel great but sad at the same time because they lived alone.

*On a final note, I want to mention that Miatta actually was the pilot of our delivery day. Like I said before, my sense of direction is terrible but improving : ) At least I no longer feel that sense of panic when I drive around DC due to all that I am involved in. My next post I want to focus on the biggest event that I have been involved in SERVATHON.