Gift Week: Finding Those Who Need Meals

It seems like there are times when I know lots of people that could use a good home-cooked meal and other times when the needs aren’t so apparent. Lately, I have had several requests for brainstorming and ideas on how to provide meals to families in the area. I am going to share some of those needs in hopes that you will get great ideas on how to contribute yourself.

1. A young mom in our house church is friends with a woman who is now a grandma to triplets! Her son and daughter-in-law had been trying for some time to get pregnant and were very excited to learn that they were, and having triplets. As you can imagine, this has been a tremendous undertaking. Grandma goes at least once a week to help with weekly tasks and cooking. Their church family has brought them a steady stream of meals over the last 4 months but those meals are starting to wane. Mom is also breastfeeding all three! WOW (I am in awe) which means that she is eating A LOT. So meals are of great help. I was asked if there was a way that we could provide meals to their family, freezer meals being great, over the next few months.

This is where you can come in! If you live in the Dayton, Ohio area and would like to donate some freezer meals to this family, please email me so that I might put you in touch with the coordinator of this effort. If you are in the Columbus, Ohio area (where the family is residing) and would like to donate meals, please also email me so that we might figure out a coordination effort for those in that area.

2. Through another family at church I found out that there was a mom who was staying with her baby in the ICU at Children’s Medical Center in Cincinnati. The baby was born at 28 weeks and is experiencing quite a few complications. Their prognosis for he baby was that she would need to be at Children’s in Cincinnati for approximately 4-6 months (it has been at least 2 already). Mom had a job back home and has 3 other children. Dad and the kids are at home in Virginia during the week but come on the weekends when they can. Can you even imagine trying to coordinate all that?

I have sent some meals to Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House for the mom on at least one occasion. I was going to ask those of you that live in the Cincinnati, Ohio area if you would be interested in doing the same. However, this particular family has been sort of quarantined to the babies room so as not to bring in any infection. If you are interested in taking meals to them if they are able to leave the babies room in the future, please email me and I will keep you posted.

Also, I have heard that there are many families that could use meals like this at the Ronald McDonald House. They do provide meals but they are usually limited and not all 3 meals each day. Having some meals in the freezer that can easily be heated up in the oven or microwave would likely be welcome. Please check with your local Ronald McDonald House before just dropping food off though.

Other ideas of who might really appreciate a meal:

• A mom who just had a baby
• Single parents
• Grand parents
• Older folks who don’t enjoy/have the ability to cook for themselves
• A friend that is moving
• A friend that is super busy
• A friend that is going through a rough time right now
• A friend that is sick – not just really sick – maybe just even a cold

Do you know of a need that you would like to share with readers? Please feel free to list it below with contact information.

**Don’t miss out on the Once A Month Mom Tweet-Up October 10th – RSVP Now – Limited Space Available! Food created from food demonstrations at this event will be donated to local families in need or Ronald McDonald House.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 10:30 am and is filed under Kitchen Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.