Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility is determined by need. Generally, our clients:

• Are over the age of 18
• Are homebound and unable to meet basic nutritional needs, either temporarily or permanently.
• Have no reliable options for nutritious daily meals.
• Reside in Lehigh or Northampton counties.

Yes, if the person in need of meals is unable to prepare meals while the other family member is not home.

Of course! We receive referrals from any number of sources. The person you are referring for meals must agree to the service before we follow up to determine eligibility. Please read these FAQs so that you can explain the process to your family member.

You can sign up in 2 ways:

1. Call our office at 610-691-1030.
2. Use the form on this website. One of our Case Managers will contact you to make an appointment to meet with you and review your financial information and health conditions. The Case Manager will also share our client folder packet. After this visit, it takes 2 working days to start meals.

Yes! We comply with the U.S. Department of Agriculture food pattern and Pennsylvania Department of Aging nutrition guidelines. All of our daily home-delivered meals are diabetic- and cardiac-friendly. They are low in fat, sodium, and cholesterol. We also accommodate for renal, soft, pureed, and lactose-intolerant diets.

We use a sliding-fee scale for clients who have certain financial needs. You may be eligible for county funding. Meals on Wheels staff will help determine how much you will pay. Weekend meals (delivered as 1 or 2 frozen meals) are available at the same cost as a hot daily meal.

We accept VISA, MasterCard, check, money order, and SNAP benefits.

Meals are delivered Monday through Friday. Meals will arrive between 10pm and 1:30pm, depending on your route.

We have a HUGE team of volunteers who deliver meals every day. They look forward to delivering your meal as much as you look forward to receiving it. Many of our volunteers have been delivering for years. Volunteers will spend a few minutes talking with you and asking how you are doing. However, they can’t stay too long because they have other meals to deliver.

Always call our office for any change in your schedule. If you won’t be home to get your meal on a temporary basis (i.e., you have a doctor’s appointment that day), please make arrangements for a neighbor to hold your meal for you or put it in a community refrigerator.

We are committed to your food safety. We care about the quality of your meal. That is why we will never leave a meal in a cooler outside your door. We must hand it to a person who will take care of your food until you can eat it.

The volunteer will call the Meals on Wheels office if you don’t answer the door. We will try to reach you by phone. If we do not speak with you, we will call your emergency contact. Our volunteers will not enter your house without permission. If you are in distress, we will call 911.

We require 2 business days’ notice for any change in service status. We understand that emergencies come up, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Absolutely. We love our pets, too! All we ask is that you have your pet under control when our volunteers deliver your meal. That might mean that your pet is kept in a separate room. The case manager will review this with you at your first meeting.

In fact, we have a program called Ani-Meals. If you receive daily meals, you might qualify for this extra help. Ask the case manager if you are eligible.

Your options are a hot tray meal daily, hot and cold daily, frozen weekend pack (2 meals that are delivered on Thursdays), weekly frozen delivered meals (that are delivered on a Tuesday or Wednesday), or Chef Pack meals, which are frozen entrees that you order anytime.

Yes! Our sliding-fee scale does not apply to Chef Pack meals. Chef Packs are payable on the delivery date. We accept VISA, MasterCard, check, money order, and SNAP benefits.

Standard delivery fee is $10 per shopping trip and $5 if you are receiving our daily meal services.

Grocery shopping is available to people who have difficulty getting out to the store to shop for themselves due to health, transportation, or other issues.

Our shoppers can shop at Giant, Redner’s Markets, and Weis.

A volunteer will be scheduled to fit into your schedule. Most shopping trips happen between Tuesday afternoon and Friday afternoon. You will be given a 2-hour window for delivery once your shopping volunteer is scheduled.

All groceries are billed through Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley. You can pay with SNAP benefits, credit card, or check. We keep your information on file. We charge your credit card or SNAP account when shopping is completed. Check payments are due at the time of delivery.

Grocery orders are taken on Mondays. Clients can call our Market on Wheels Grocery Line at 610-691-6708 anytime between 4pm Friday and 8 am Monday and leave their name and phone number for service.  Market on Wheels staff or volunteers call clients between 8:30am and 1pm on Mondays to take their grocery orders.

Our shoppers will shop for anything in the store with the exception of alcohol, tobacco products, lottery tickets and prescription medication. We limit orders to 25 items. See our Grocery Shopping Handbook for more information.

An authorized Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley volunteer will shop for and deliver your groceries. All volunteers have had criminal background checks. You will get the volunteer’s name before he or she goes shopping.

Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley has shopper’s/bonus cards set up with each store, so that you will get the sale price.

We cannot use manufacturer coupons at this time.

Your shopper will be given your phone number with your order. If he/she has questions or if something is not available, your shopper will call you.

We do our best to get exactly what you want. Unfortunately, mistakes happen. We will work with you to fix the problem if necessary.

At Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley, we have a variety of volunteer opportunities. See more info on volunteering here:

• Meal delivery drivers and “visitors” (the passenger who takes the food to the client)
• Substitute and emergency drivers
• Grocery shopping volunteers (shoppers and order-takers)
• Better Fresh choppers
• Office volunteers

Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley serves both Northampton and Lehigh counties. We need volunteers in both counties!

On your scheduled delivery day, you would arrive at the pick-up site at your assigned time for announcements and meal pick-up, then load your hot bag and cooler into your vehicle, and head out on the route. At each client’s home, you’d check the route sheets for any special delivery instructions, find the meals with the client’s name, and deliver it to the client’s door.

We expect our volunteers to do a daily wellness check for our clients. This could mean chatting for a few minutes, asking how the client is doing, or offering to check the mail. After delivering all your meals, return your cooler, hot bag, route sheet, and any signage to the Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley pick-up site.

We call grocery shopping volunteers on Monday or Tuesday morning with a client shopping assignment. Once a shopping day is scheduled, shoppers go to a designated store and pick up the client order at customer service and shop. Shoppers go through the regular check-out, and all groceries are billed to the client. The shopper then delivers the groceries to the client’s home.

It’s easy to sign-up. Complete the volunteer registration form (link) and a member of the volunteer services team will contact you.

Yes! This is for the protection of our clients and our volunteers. We conduct all clearance checks through a nationally accredited company, Verified Volunteers. The clearance costs $35, and we cover $10 of this cost.

Yes. Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley offers both online training and in-person training classes. A volunteer services team member can explain the options to you. Because our volunteers see our clients on a daily basis, we do expect that you take at least 3 hours of training each year to maintain your status as an active volunteer. Our class schedule is coming soon.

Volunteering can range from about 2 hours per month to 2 hours every day. Your time commitment can be customized to fit your schedule.

Yes. We have many volunteers who work full-time. Grocery shopping is a great opportunity for people who work, because shopping times and days are flexible. Many employers will allow their employees to volunteer during work hours as a community service. Please contact your human resource department for availability.

We do accept volunteers who may need to meet the requirements for school, church, or scouting service projects. Volunteers under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley volunteer. We will track service hours and can provide a report for students to use for verification. We do not accept court-ordered community service.

Yes, our clients love when children volunteer and bring them their meals and groceries. It’s a wonderful way to introduce your children or grandchildren to volunteering and interacting with people of different ages and ability levels. Children must be accompanied by a Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley volunteer. If you are bringing a child, please let us know in advance.

No, we do not require that you have a partner to deliver meals or grocery shop. If you would prefer to go along with another Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley volunteer, our schedulers can arrange it for you.

Yes, you will need to use your own vehicle to deliver meals or grocery shop. We require a photocopy of your driver’s license and current insurance card. Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley can provide a mileage report for tax return purposes or mileage reimbursement for certain volunteer positions.

As a meal delivery volunteer, we try to keep you on the same routes from day to day unless you are willing to fill in where we need volunteers. Clients may be shifted from one route to another, however, depending on fluctuations in client counts. Grocery shopping clients, meanwhile, often shop for the same person(s) depending on the client’s shopping needs.

You can go online to our scheduling program and remove your assigned date(s). You may also notify our office by phone. The more advance notice, the better!

Donations to Meals on Wheels are tax-deductible (including donations to events like Team Meals on Wheels at the Highmark Walk); however, certain donations in which the donor receives a good or service in return for a donation are not tax-deductible or may be only partially deductible. This would apply to Sponsorships and tickets purchased for the Bountiful Bowl Annual Gala.

Federal Tax ID number (also known as an EIN, Employer Identification Number) 23-1861779. Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

It’s easy to celebrate the life of a friend or loved one by making a donation to the Meals on Wheels in their honor or memory. If giving online, select “in memory of” or “in honor of” under the label “Type of Tribute” and write the loved one’s name in the “Tribute Name” box. If mailing in a donation, you can include a note or simply write the tribute in the memo line of the check.

Yes. We compile donations given in memory of someone and send a letter listing all donations to the next of kin, unless you request that the gift remain anonymous.  Because we receive many donations in the weeks after the passing of a loved one, we generally hold the letter for a month to ensure we have included everyone who wanted to give.

To assist you and your financial advisor in structuring planned gift contributions, here is the Form 8283, the Form 8282, and a copy of the MOWGLV tax exempt letter.

When you pledge to give a specific monthly donation by credit card — in an amount you are comfortable with — you join a group of committed supporters helping to ensure no senior goes hungry in the Lehigh Valley.

Monthly giving is easy!

• Use our safe and secure online form and select “recurring donation” to start helping today!

Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley

1302 N Sherman Street

Allentown, PA 18109

We suggest that you consult your legal and estate planning professionals.  Here is some sample language that may be helpful:

The Legacy Society was established by the Board of Directors to give deserving recognition to friends whose generous gifts support the Endowment Fund.

Outright gifts of cash, appreciated securities, as well as tangible property such as real estate with a value of $5,000 and more qualify for membership in the Legacy Society. However, a gift in any amount is appreciated to support the Endowment Fund.

“Future” gifts by way of the following help to support the Endowment Fund and may qualify for membership in the Legacy Society:

• Bequests – naming MOWGLV as a beneficiary in one’s will.
• Charitable Trusts – including but not limited to Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Lead Trusts.
• Gifts of Life Insurance – by way of a beneficiary designation or rendering ownership of the policy to MOWGLV
• Beneficiary Designations – arranged through retirement and investment plans

All outright gifts are recognized in our Annual Report, unless the donor requests to remain anonymous.  Donors whose outright or future gifts toward endowment totaling $5,000 and more will be listed as members of the Legacy Society. The Legacy Society listing is posted on our website and our Annual Report each year. A framed listing of the Legacy Society membership is also prominently displayed in the Board Room at Meals On Wheels.

First, we are sorry to hear of your loss.  We want to make this as easy as possible for you and your family during this difficult time.  The easiest thing to do is just tell people and we can work things out later.  If we don’t get any notification, we usually check the obituary for next of kin.  You may want to consider listing Meals on Wheels as a giving option in the obituary and ask people to write your loved one’s full name in the memo section of the check or as a note if the donation is online.  If you can, it is helpful to let us know you have asked people to donate and provide us with your address so we can send you a list of everyone who donated.

First, we are sorry to hear of your loss.  When we have not received notification from the family ahead of time, we consult the obituary or funeral home for information on next of kin.  It is possible that we were given a different family member’s name.  Also, when the funeral home directly collects the donations and forwards to us, there may be a delay.  Lastly, we usually hold the letter for a couple weeks past the passing date to ensure all loved ones have a chance to donate and be included.  If you want to check on the status at any time, you can call Cori at 610-419-6289.