CVCOA Staff Help Meal Program Volunteers Take a Break

April was volunteer appreciation month and as part of the effort to show how vital and valuable our volunteers are, our Community Engagement team tried something new this year and supported several meal sites in hosting volunteer appreciation lunches.  Lunches in South Royalton, Randolph, Northfield, East Montpelier, and Waterbury celebrated volunteers by allowing them to sit back, relax, and enjoy socializing with other volunteers while being served by our team and others. 

In close collaboration with the meal site staff, CVCOA’s Community Engagement team helped to put on the lunches by becoming volunteers themselves, prepping, serving and/or cleaning up after meals and also providing some financial support, too.  AmeriCorps Senior RSVP Volunteer Coordinator Marisa said “It was amazing to see the volunteers feeling appreciated and relaxing while I served lunch and cleaned up.”

Director, Community Engagement Caitlin shared “Every day our team is inspired by the meal site staff and volunteers that do so much to feed our older neighbors. Being able to support our meal site partners in this small way was very special – and we had a lot of fun doing it. We look forward to a few more events later in the year and intend to make this a yearly tradition.”

Most of the 220,000 meals provided by our partner meal sites each year are prepped, served and delivered by volunteers! We couldn’t do it without them. 

Check out photos from the volunteer appreciation lunch in South Royalton celebrating Chelsea Senior Center, Strafford Senior Center, and South Royalton Senior Center volunteers:

Interested in becoming a Meals on Wheels volunteer?  Watch this short video to find out more.