‘Delivering Hope’ By Way of Meal Service is Truly a Mission They Serve Their Communities With

If you live in the Southwestern part of Tennessee, you are most likely aware of the Southwest Human Resources Agency (SWHRA) and the many ways they serve their communities. One of their well-known programs is ‘delivering hope’ through meal service. During the past year as the pandemic plagued the country with schools closed and no access to essential meals, the SWHRA team, lead by Patti Pickler was relentless in making sure that students had access to healthy meals. In fact, last year they served over half a million meals across the region. They were thankful for the much-needed waivers put in place by the USDA to allow parents to pick up meals daily, which meant that kids didn’t have to eat on site and could take their breakfast and lunch meals back home for the day. The year of COVID, has been quite a balancing act, and although they had almost half the number of sites, they served quite a few more meals.

Ms. Pickler has quite the operation with a huge central Kitchen to prep meals daily for Meals on Wheels, serving seniors, meals for Head Start as well as meals for the CACFP At-Risk Afterschool Meals program for students after the school day. Starting Monday May 24th, SWHRA will begin their Summer Food Service program to deliver meals to 10 counties for meal service. With their fleet of up to 15 vans, they will be carting meals to meet the needs of students near and far. On any given Summer, serving this many meals is quite the balancing act, but during COVID, this was a problem they were determined to solve and make it work. SWHRA also does a great job of coordinating their summer staff of local high school and college students who are quite a help in reaching all areas of the region.

One of the positives that came from COVID according to Pickler was the fact that more families became aware of the meal service programs, not just in SW Tennessee, but all over the country. In order for families to participate, they have to know about the program. From radio and newspaper ads, social media and the website, flyers and word of mouth, the SWHRA has done a great deal of advertising and are excited for another busy summer ahead ‘Delivering Hope’ and good food!