10-18-20 Care and Nutrition Update for Wright County Seniors

 

Dear Friends and Partners,

 

This is the October 18^th update of Wright County’s Care and Nutrition Partnership Support for Seniors (60+).  We are starting our 31^st week of response to COVID-19. Wright County Community Action (WCCA) has a support line for seniors; please encourage seniors to call (320) 963-6500 Ext. 274.  As a community, we want to help with our most vulnerable neighbors’ challenges, including isolation and the impact that results, assistance with grocery access through education, grocery delivery, senior mobile food shelf needs, frozen meal support, prescription access, and needs like housekeeping, chores, assisted transportation and other logistical issues as they present.

 

As was mentioned last week, NourishingHOPE has extended frozen meal support just beyond the Wright County Line to the east into Western Hennepin County.  Seniors there in Western Hennepin County can reach out to NourishingHOPE to learn about frozen meal support in their local community.  Communities in Western Hennepin include: Corcoran, Greenfield, Hamel, Hassen, Loretto, Rogers, Delano, Hanover, Maple Plain, Otsego, and Rockford.  For more information about Western Hennepin services, please contact nourishinghope.oflc@gmail.com or call (763) 477-6300. 

 

One way you can help today is to share this email with friends or family that might be interested in assisting our seniors with their individual transportation needs.  We are looking for more volunteer drivers to help support volunteer driver assistance for seniors needing to get to their medical appointments.  We do reimburse mileage.  Volunteers can contact us at the telephone number above.  Dialing zero will also get you to a staff assistant.

 

Wright County COVID-19 IMPACT

 

As of October 15^th we have 2,143 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wright County.  This measurement began March 13^th of this year.  This week we had 228 new confirmed cases which is up notably L from 185 last week.  This trend seems to be gaining momentum (see chart below).  This is the second week in a row of record gain in cases since the pandemic began.

 

 

There are a total of 27 new cases this week over 70 years of age for a pandemic total of 168. L  This is more than a 19% increase in one week of the total 70+ cases since the beginning of the pandemic.  Of the 10 laboratory confirmed deaths from COVID-19 taking place in Wright County during these last 5 months, 5, or half, of these deaths came in the last 2 weeks. L  Previously we experienced 5 laboratory confirmed deaths over the last four months (5 deaths total in June, July, August, and September 2020 combined).

 

 

October 15, 2020                                                                                                               

 

 

It is so important to keep the communication lines open and to work intentionally at protecting this vulnerable population from the virus.  Personally, we have someone we love that is a very strong young man, 31 years of age, that is right now in the ICU where he lives struggling with double pneumonia caused by COVID-19.  While he is certainly expected to weather this storm, some of us with older bodies will definitely face even more difficult times.  With rising numbers, please share this story so all our seniors know a place to go if they want to confidently check into resources they may need  – also please call the seniors in your life, they love hearing from you.  Separation and isolation can really start to get to us all, even more for many of our older family and friends that are not as mobile as they use to be.  No matter how old you are, just ask yourself; are you feeling a little less settled since this pandemic began?  The calls to our seniors are important.

 

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/52d559cfbe6e4ca39558c9b2f877e144

 

This chart demonstrates this week’s largest weekly surge of new cases (228 cases) in Wright County since the pandemic began.  We had our first one day spike this week in Wright County reaching 50 new cases in a single day.  Our seniors 70+, are substantially represented in this recent surge of new cases. LL

 

This week’s Packing Event

 

 

      

                 Packed 1,680 senior meals on Thursday at Waverly Food Shelf

 

  

This first time senior meal packing crew did a great job!

                               

If you have a team that might want to help us pack meals on a Wednesday or Thursday morning please let us know.  Packing happens about every week and takes less than two hours.  It can be a lot fun.   Each packing can be done with up to 4 or 5 volunteers.  Call 763-658-4414 if you want to learn more about volunteering for these packing events.

 

Shout-out to Strategic Partners

 

This week Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm offered 425 boxes.   Joel and friends delivered 368 boxes of Haralson Apples, Buttercup Squash, Potatoes, Tomatillos, Zestar Apples, Leeks, Cauliflower, #2 Cucumbers, and #2 Eggplant.

 

Untiedt’s Pickup and Delivery Schedule this week 

 

  

 

  

Untiedt’s Hero’s and Jose

 

Food Security Partner Deliveries

 

  

WCCA’s Joel Klaverkamp                                                                           Big Lake Food Shelf

  

Annandale Food Shelf                                                                                Buffalo Food Shelf

 

 

  

Delano Senior Center                                                                                    Monticello Help Center

 

NourishingHOPE

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

NourishingHOPE’s distribution goes out in six locations in Wright County and Western Hennepin.  October’s NourishingHOPE drive-thru’s included 640 vehicles this week; 117 first time and 523 returning vehicles.  These guys are doing such a great service serving 1,907 individuals in October with a total of 535 over 65 years of age. 

 

NourishingHOPE distribution sites include:

Buffalo Covenant Church

Corcoran St. Thomas Church

Delano Light Of Christ Church

Montrose United Methodist Church

Rockford Our Father's Lutheran Church

St Michael Alleluia Church

Thank you NourishingHOPE!!

 

Forgotten Harvest North Minneapolis and Twin Cities Relief – pickup at Greg’s Farm

 

  

Kristy and Jose Flores – These two special people move lots of Untiedt’s produce boxes through Forgotten Harvest

 

  

 

Twin Cities Relief - North Minneapolis Destination

 

  

Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm produce going to Twin Cities Relief and turned into hot meals in North Minneapolis.  Served 1,000 meals.

 

 

 

Please let us know if there are other food security partners that we are not reaching with fresh fruit and vegetables from Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm.  Please forward this email to them or give them our contact information.

 

If you or a potential partner would like to help expand this resource to our seniors expressly on Highway 12, please consider donating to the “COVID-19 Food” fund at the Delano Loretto Area United Way:

 

Write a check to:  Delano Loretto Area United Way

 

In the memo line, write: “COVID-19 Food.”

 

Mail to:             P.O. Box 578

Delano, MN  55328

 

Or visit the Delano Loretto Area United Way Website http://www.delanolorettouw.org/ and click “Donate” -- donations via credit card or PayPal (click on “write a note”, write “COVID-19 Food”)

 

If you want to target expansion of frozen meal delivery in other parts of Wright County including the Highway 55 corridor and I-94 corridor, please consider donating to the “COVID-19 Food” fund at Wright County Community Action: 

 

Write a check to:  Wright County Community Action

 

In the memo line, write: “COVID-19 Food.”

 

Mail to:             P.O. Box 787

Maple Lake, MN  55358

 

Or visit the Wright County Community Action Agency Website (dedicate to:  “COVID-19 Food”)  https://www.wccaweb.com

 

The entire community of Wright County is in this together! (see current partner list below)

 

Please forward this email to potential partners!

 

Grateful,

 

Jay Weatherford

WCCA Executive Director

 

For more information for Wright County senior support services:

 

https://www.wccaweb.com/Home/Index  (click current programs)

 

or

 

email:  agingservices@wccaweb.com

 

or call:

 

(320) 963-6500 Ext 274 – Aging Program Manager - Eric Nagel

 

(320) 963-6500 Ext 241 – Dispatch

 

1-800-333-2433 – Senior LinkAge Line

 

Delivered Frozen Meal Program(s) – WCCA at (320) 963-6500 Ext 274  or Catholic Charities Meals on Wheels program located in Maple Lake: (320) 963-5771,  Annandale:  (320) 274-3891  and Buffalo:  (763) 682-6036     

 

To volunteer:

 

Contact (320) 963-6500 Ext. 225 –– Jen Liebeck jliebeck@wccaweb.com

Or enroll on Website: https://www.wccaweb.com/Home/Volunteer

 

 

New Partner and First Time Reader Overview

 

Farmers: food shelfs and senior programs can use your support.  Please share this email with your Wright County  farmer friends potentially able to contribute, or other Food Security Partners that could use this produce to support their efforts.  For large donations, WCCA will use its resources to make distributions happen.  Again, going forward we hope to expand this list of local food security recipients that could use fresh vegetables when they become available. If you are serving local individuals at no cost and would like to be included in this potential fresh vegetable distribution opportunity, please email me a cell phone number to text.  When an opportunity arises, a rapid response will be needed.  Based on a first come first serve distribution and availability, Wright County Community Action will do our best to share these resources as they come in and deliver them to partner locations.

 

Partner support

 

·        Second Harvest – free and reduced cost bulk raw food products for frozen meal production.

·        Delano Coburn’s – weekly food rescue makes a tremendous impact on food security resources.

·        Local Farmers – Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm and Dechene Corporation of Big Lake Minnesota – contributing produce for senior meal support and local food security needs.

·        Waverly Café - ingenuity and giving spirit including their PPP loan directed at paying their staff to produce senior meals, catering expertise, and use of their commercial kitchen.

·        Catholic Charities partially funded by Central MN Council on Aging – frozen meals contribution and Meals-on-Wheels referral partner.

·        Cargill – breakfast meals.

·        J&B Group – bulk warehouse freezer storage including bulk prepared meal storage and bulk raw food storage; not to mention helping us resolve logistical issues, as well as supplying a really great box with the outcome of providing so many solutions to challenges we have faced in our production process.

·        Buffalo Crossings LLC, owner of Oriental Buffet in Buffalo – commercial walk-in freezer, commercial walk-in cooler, and commercial kitchen to pack and store senior meals.

·        Local Food Shelves - local frozen meal and bulk food storage, as well as senior services registration (Annandale Food Shelf, Buffalo Food Shelf, Monticello Help Center, and Waverly Food Shelf).

·        Trailblazer – daily volunteer based County-wide local meal delivery.

·        Delano Senior Center – senior services application fulfillment and frozen meal distribution, as well as Meals-on-Wheels referral partner.

·        NourshingHOPE – senior services applications fulfillment, frozen meal distribution, and produce distributions. 

·        Wright County Human Services/Public Health – volunteer recruitment support, data support, instructional materials design, and logistics support.

·        St. Cloud Refrigeration – emergency air conditioning for the Waverly Café kitchen.

·        Electrical Workers Union, IBEW Local 292 – brought to the partnership Olympia Tech Electric to support new electrical service needed at Waverly Café

·        Olympia Tech Electric – installing new electrical services at Waverly Café needed for additional freezer capacity

·        Local Lions Clubs – local community freezer development and contributions to the cost of frozen meals (Waverly, Montrose, Howard Lake, Maple Lake, Loretto, and Monticello).

·        Local Municipalities – local freezer storage funding support (City of Waverly, City of Montrose, City of Howard Lake).

·        Health Care Partners – Allina Health (financial support)

·        Other Local Corporations – Citizen State Bank of Waverly (freezer funding support), HWY 55 Trailer Sales of Buffalo, and Walgreens (shopping bags).

·        Local Faith-based organizations – many very giving churches for many years have been active in financial support for food security across Wright County (too many to mention them all – but you know who you are) . – in addition, Love INC, St Mary’s Catholic Church, Alleluia Lutheran, Our Father’s Lutheran, St. John’s Lutheran, North Ridge Fellowship Small Group and friends, Montrose United Methodist Church have provide support for senior call center activity, B.R.E.A.D program outreach, volunteer administrative services, food security, food preparation, and meal and food storage - access and delivery.

·        Initiative Foundations, Delano Loretto Area United Way, Wright County Area United Way, Mardag Foundation, and St Paul and Minnesota Foundations including funding for COVID-19 direct response, Catchafire membership, and B.R.E.A.D. program funding.

·        State Live Well at Home Funding and Federal Title III funding support administered by the Minnesota Board on Aging and Central Minnesota Council on Aging.

·        Wholesale purchase of recyclable meal trays.

·        Oliver Equipment Lease for the required equipment to seal the senior meal trays.

·        AMI Group and IDA Foods – access to airline meal vendors adding senior meal production capacity and contingency support.  This opportunity to purchase over stock of first-class airline meals due to drop in air travel and our partners sharing their relationships.

·        Tireless WCCA Staff support from multiple programs working to braid any allowable resource to make a difference for our seniors.

·        Countless community volunteers - everything from administrative services support, logistics and storage coordination, bulk food and materials transport, senior transportation, local meal delivery, meal packing, senior call center activity, PPE production and product support, volunteer coordination, food rescue, and so many more details where you fill the gap  (you too, know who you are – we are so grateful for your courage and willingness to step forward to meet needs).

 

Call to Action

 

There is still much more opportunity for local corporate and civic partners to get involved.  It’s simple solutions like packing meals in the Walgreens shopping bags or storing bulk meals or protein on the warehouse freezer floor at J&B Group that have made all the difference.  Given the chance there are many incredible businesses that have unique resources, relationships, buying power, and experience.   We really hope to find more corporate partners willing to leverage their earned knowledge and distinctive talents to improve this support for our seniors during the pandemic.   Leveraging what they do best including their marketing, buying power, and connections brings together powerful partners.  When we put our heads together, we dig up unique ways like those mentioned briefly above.  These often come from you readers.  So please share this email with your friend, neighbor, or corporate partner so that this story can be told, and those big thinkers out there have the opportunity to step forward and do what they do best. 

 

Its leaders like Waverly Café, J&B Group, Cargill, St. Cloud Refrigeration, Buffalo Crossing, and Untiedt Vegetable Farm that are showing us ways for other corporate partners to leverage their buying power, innovation, and economy of scale that will most likely take this delivery system to the next level.  We need you thinkers to help refine our process as a community, interested in protecting our most vulnerable population by leveraging their lessons learned; those lessons that have brought your businesses to the success they are today.  Share this message with your friends: during the same years that many of your companies were established and being built to thrive, the people we are trying to protect were your customers.  This might be a great opportunity to now give back to the ones who supported you and help them thrive. 

 

We need to refine solutions in local communities for freezer storage, access to bulk buying, shared and efficient transportation opportunities, HR teams organizing volunteers to support local distribution in their community, corporate giving through community investment and matching.  We need volunteered ingenuity from our bankers and other corporate partners that  can bring their experience to this effort to shore up and produce a stronger, even more sustainable model than we have today.  It is partners with their buying power, innovation, and economy of scale that are now needed to continue to refine our process.  There is still local ingenuity to leverage in this crisis seeking local solutions that will only enhance, extend, and sustain the investment of the federal and state agencies.