Neighbor Ride Volunteers Deliver Food To Howard County Seniors

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — As seniors struggle to find transportation to essential medical appointments and obtain food during the new coronavirus pandemic and executive order to stay at home, the volunteer service Neighbor Ride has become even more important. Neighbor Ride has provided volunteer-based transportation to seniors in Howard County since 2004. Now it's teamed up with the Howard County Food Bank and Howard County Office on Aging and Independence to deliver food to vulnerable, homebound clients during the coronavirus pandemic.

Neighbor Ride provided 18 food deliveries during its first full week of delivery service at the end of March, increasing to nearly 50 food deliveries the following week. The organization also provided more than 17,000 trips to seniors in 2019.

“As an established transportation service, we’re well equipped with a sophisticated ride-match database and committed volunteers to pivot to fill the need for food delivery, a critical service as we’re sheltering at home to limit the spread of COVID-19,” said Bruce Fulton, executive director of Neighbor Ride, in a statement. “We’re ramping up deliveries to help as many seniors and other county residents as possible.”

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Neighbor Ride coordinates the delivery process from beginning to end, including contacting clients for confirmation, planning logistics based on residence type and completing the delivery while following physical distancing guidelines. This frees up people at the Howard County Food Bank and Office on Aging and Independence to prioritize continuing to supply food and serve residents at food pickup locations.

“We’re fortunate to have a strong group of dedicated volunteer drivers who want to stay involved during the crisis. It’s because of them and interest from potential new volunteers that we estimate we could quickly increase food deliveries to more than 90 per week,” said Fulton.

Anyone interested in volunteering and helping during the new coronavirus pandemic should reach out to Neighbor Ride for more information at 410-884-7433.

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