Volunteers help meal recipients prep for snowstorm

Meals on Wheels volunteers Tish Alexander and Shauna Brookings

As the Twin Cities braced for a significant winter storm, hundreds of Meals on Wheels volunteers headed out with extra meals Wednesday, Feb. 22. Knowing that deliveries would likely need to be canceled the following day, local Meals on Wheels programs worked to ensure recipients would have meals they could reheat.

News crews tagged along with Eastside Meals on Wheels volunteers Tish Alexander and Shauna Brookings as they made the day’s deliveries. The mother-daughter delivery duo are beloved by meal recipients and are known to bring flowers to the people they deliver to – even in the rush leading up to the snowstorm.

“We bring them these gifts but they truly are the gifts for us,” Tish told KARE 11 as they chronicled their journey.

Watch the KARE 11 story

With eyes on Minnesota as the epicenter of the storm drew near, Meals on Wheels recipients and volunteers also greeted a national audience, appearing on the NBC Nightly News.

In the end, Minnesotans weathered another winter storm and Twin Cities Meals on Wheels volunteers did what they’ve been doing for 50+ years, ensuring our neighbors remained safe in their homes with food to eat. Thanks to all the volunteers who put in the extra effort to get meal recipients what they needed before the peak of the snowstorm.

You can also hear our Member Services Director Anita Berg give an overview of the effort to get extra meals out the day before the storm on WCCO Radio.

More volunteers needed!

Twin Cities Meals on Wheels programs are looking for more people like Tish and Shauna to join their ranks! Sign up to deliver meals here.