A blast of Arctic weather over the weekend made travel nearly impossible for many in the area, but Warren County’s Meals on Wheels (MoW) exercised plans to keep daily dinners in the homes of their clients. The non-profit home delivery meal program relies on volunteers who drive hundreds of miles a week to serve some 230 recipients, all without charge to the beneficiaries.  

But when snow and ice cover most of the rural roads, MoW responds by serving frozen meals that can last for days before being re-heated in a microwave or conventional oven, Nancy Mayfield, the program’s executive director, said in WCPI program airing this week.

“These are freshly prepared meals made right here in our own kitchen.  We have special equipment for sealing and fast-freezing them to preserve the quality and nutritional value,” she explained.

The volunteer drivers, some 60 of them, then deliver the frozen meals along with the hot dinners during their regular rounds. The system ensures that clients will have their expected five meals a week even when severe weather halts normal road travel. 

“Our people need to eat even when the weather interferes with our usual delivery routine.  So we anticipate that need,” Mayfield noted.  

The half-hour conversation with Mayfield, along with MoW assistant director Tabitha Rucker and longtime volunteer driver Syd Prater, airs Wednesday at 9 a.m. on McMinnville Public Radio 91.3-WCPI. The program will be repeated Saturday, also at 9 a.m.