MIFA’s Meals on Wheels Program relies on staff to deliver meals, smiles

This is the ninth story in our new series on senior food insecurity. It’s a topic that is especially important in the greater Memphis area, which has the third-highest senior food insecurity rates in the country. 

While MIFA’s Meals on Wheels program boasts a robust roster of volunteers, it’s their committed staff drivers who are responsible for the bulk of meal deliveries to clients in and around Memphis. In fact, volunteers only make up 30 percent of the meals delivered while staff account for the other 70 percent of meals delivered. In the end, though, it takes a village to make sure that clients are served week-to-week. 

The fleet of drivers consists of 22 part-time and full-time staffers who manage and execute routes each week Monday through Friday. Monday through Wednesday consists of hot meals while Thursday is comprised of delivering frozen boxes, and Friday is where they hit up the congregant sites including community centers, high rises, and group homes. 

For longtime lead driver Rodrick Hayes, delivering meals means delivering smiles. 

Jeff HulettFor longtime lead driver Rodrick Hayes, delivering meals means delivering smiles. “The clients like me alright,” he says. “Sometimes we are the only face they see that day. I’m a hugger, so if they want a hug, I tell them to bring it in.” 

When I rode along with Hayes and MIFA communications officer Istvan “Ish” Bardos, the route consisted of a half dozen homes in Orange Mound, a beautiful and historic community in South Memphis. Hayes provides a courtesy call letting clients know he’s on the way, something the clients appreciate, before making each delivery. 

As a lead driver, Hayes makes sure all drivers have their initial routes set up, the correct number of meals – both hot and cold – as well as ensuring each vehicle is ready to go. The current fleet of staff vehicles are Subarus that are available for all MIFA staff to use while doing MIFA business in the community. 

“I do a lot of prep work so my drivers can just grab the meals and go,” Hayes says. “We have a great team.” 

For Ish Bardos who is still fairly new to the team but sees the process as a well-oiled machine. 

“Back in the day we didn’t have all of this technology,” he says. “At MIFA we take advantage of the advanced technology and it really helps with efficiency, quality improvement and it provides peace of mind that are clients are being taken care of.” 

Bardos also mentioned that there’s a calendar of meals for the month that clients can peruse ahead of time. All meals are FDA-approved and up to the current nutrition standards. If a client doesn’t want a certain meal, they let the staff know ahead of time. 

“The drivers know their clients better than anyone else and those relationships help us to improve, learn and grow,” says Bardos. “They are all over it and serve as our point people on the street.” 

At MIFA, the human contact and social interaction is more than a transaction. 

For more information, visit www.mifa.org.