County reviews concerns with Home Delivered Meals program

COUNTY – Waupaca County officials are looking into concerns about the quality, delivery and availability of its Home Delivered Meals program.

Home Delivered Meals, a service similar to Meals on Wheels, is part of the county’s Senior Nutrition Program and provides meals to homebound seniors who face challenges getting or preparing food. Volunteers deliver meals to participants’ doors weekdays between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Participants are encouraged to contribute toward the cost of their meals but are not turned away if they are unable to pay. The county pays about $11.59 per meal, while the suggested participant donation is $6 to $8.

The food quality concerns appear to be primarily in the Clintonville area, where JJ’s on Main in Bowler currently provides meals for Home Delivered Meals participants. The county switched to JJ’s on Main after the Clintonville congregate meal site closed due to low participation.

A program volunteer first raised concerns about the meals during a Department of Human Services (DHS) meeting in June. A Clintonville resident later shared similar concerns on social media last week.

Laurie Vollrath, who is on the DHS committee and also volunteers for Home Delivered Meals as an occasional driver for the Clintonville area, spoke as a public resident at the June meeting.

Vollrath said that due to the distance from Clintonville to Bowler, if a meal is missing, volunteers aren’t able to provide a meal to that resident. She said that a resident’s relative told her that the meals are undesirable and gave examples of meals with bread but no butter or condiments, and with milk that expires the following day.

Another meal recipient told Vollrath “they’re paying like seven or eight dollars a meal and it’s not even something that they’d want to eat,” she said.

She added that two sisters she spoke with wanted to enroll in the Home Delivered Meals program but were told there was a waitlist.

Vollrath said she made calls and left messages for the Home Delivered Meals program supervisor, but they were not returned.

Clintonville resident Denise Benson posted a picture of one of the meals on social media last week, which showed a plain bun with a slice of ham, a banana, a carton of milk and two side containers.

“These are disgusting and very small portions,” Benson wrote. “Our seniors deserve better.”

County DHS director Mary Solheim said during the July 1 meeting that they are actively reviewing the issues and county staff has been in contact with JJ’s on Main several times about the concerns “just to make sure that meals are the quality that we should anticipate for anybody that is a participant in the program.”

Solheim said county staff and an intern are directly calling and surveying program participants to gather feedback.

“We take those concerns pretty seriously,” she said. “People should have healthy meals. People should have good meals. People should be able to count on some consistency.”

DHS recently received notice that it was awarded a Title III federal grant for the program. Solheim said staff are already in the planning phases to use the new funding and it’s expected to clear the waitlist for Home Delivered Meals.

Solheim also noted that the Home Delivered Meals program is in need of volunteer drivers in New London. Those interested in volunteering or seniors interested in the program may call 715-942-1900.