Concord’s new online service helps bring meals to homebound seniors
Concord Mayor Tim McGallian has launched Neighbor Express, an Internet-based service to help homebound Concord seniors get delivery of food and other essentials during the shelter in place.
“I was trying to find a way so that there was a central place for people to go, especially seniors with food insecurity, to be able to request meals or food. And, on top of that, being able to ask for assistance in terms of Helping Hands,” McGallian told the Pioneer on April 6.
McGallian’s friends in the tech industry put him in touch with Code for America, which helped create the website neighborexpress.org. Launched March 20, the system allows seniors 60 and older to sign up for Meals on Wheels, request delivery of groceries/prescriptions or ask for other help.
Partnering with Meals on Wheels, Mt. Diablo school district
The city of Concord has earmarked $100,000 to help pay for the meals program. Meals on Wheels has contracted with the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, which is preparing food in the district’s central kitchen in Concord. Volunteers then deliver the prepared meals, which are cold and ready to microwave.
“I call Meals on Wheels my air traffic control at this point,” McGallian said. “They help us intake the individual. They put together the routes, so that the food goes out to the people that are volunteers are matched up with.”
If a resident requests delivery of other essentials, there is a limit of $50 worth of items. Residents need to pay the volunteer driver at the door, likely with a check.
Volunteering in place
Concord resident Ilana Israel Samuels is one of the volunteers answering Neighbor Express calls, which are routed through Google Voice.
“Sometimes I answer five or six calls a day. I already work remotely, and I have the flexibility in my schedule,” said Samuels, who is also a regional director for Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit working to prevent violence.
On Monday, April 6, her first call was from a Concord senior she had already helped the previous week. “Last week I signed her up for meals. Today, she wanted some soup, milk and other things like that.”
Other cities can join in
McGallian has reached out to mayors in neighboring Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek, offering them to piggy-back on the technology. Walnut Creek has a link on the site and is working to set up a volunteer system. He’s also talked to Mayor Lily Mei in Fremont as well as the mayors in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Fort Collins, Colo.
As of April 6, 70 Concord residents had signed up for food through Neighbor Express – which will continue to operate until the shelter in place order expires on May 3.
McGallian also has 20-30 residents lined up to help. “We haven’t been able to use all of them because of the capacity of the program,” he noted. “But as needs arise, we’re gonna reach back out to people to say: ‘Hey, we need help with this or this organization needs help.’ ”
Concord seniors can reach Neighbor Express at neighborexpress.org or 925-338-1441.