HOUSTON – Houstonians are always lending a helping hand. On Saturday, volunteers, sponsors, CITGO, and Energy Transfer teamed up with Interfaith Ministries and Meals on Wheels to help those who are homebound.
The annual event is called Operation IMpact and the goal is to make sure seniors are prepared for hurricane season.
“Sometimes we can’t actually get out and deliver Meals on Wheels. So we want to make sure they are covered and that they have food to eat in case we can’t get out there and serve them,” Jay Harberg said.
Jay Harberg serves as a board member for Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston and jumped into action for the annual event.
Volunteers like Aastha Bharati prepared the food boxes and loaded them into cars. She’s a part of the AYM organization which is all about serving the community.
“Just being involved and directly handing out food, and creating these packages for people and seeing everyone working together is a really great opportunity,” she said.
Around 7,500 emergency meals were delivered to about 1,500 seniors in our area. Many say they were grateful for a week’s worth of shelf-stable food items they can use in case a storm disrupts Meals on Wheels services.
“It’s really good. It’s really good. Excellent,” one man said.
One woman says her mother has been homebound for three years and the help is much needed.
“She’s on dialysis and COVID hit her really hard when she was going to and from dialysis. She had a fall and her health deteriorated but she is hanging in there, thank God, and I really appreciate all the help you all do,” the woman said.
Organizers will have the same emergency food drive in Galveston next week.