Frequently Asked Questions: Volunteers

In addition to delivering nutritious meals, volunteers offer friendly interactions and provide an informal safety check…just to make sure each client is doing well.

We also have opportunities for volunteers to help us with office tasks, the pet food program, and special events.

Complete our online application (click on the application form button on this page). We’ll contact you to schedule a volunteer orientation session and help you find a route that works best for you.

Volunteers deliver meals on 49 meal delivery routes, covering over 700 square miles throughout Buncombe County.

Some of our routes are in Asheville city limits, while other routes cover more distance in rural areas like Leicester, Juniper, Barnardsville, and Fairview.

Each route consists of 8 to 16 clients. Some live in apartment units, and others reside in mobile homes or stand-alone homes.

The average route takes between 1-1.5 hours to complete, with time time varying based on the number of stops and distance covered.

Per food and safety regulations, the last meal delivered must be in the client’s hands by 12:30 PM.

To ensure timely deliver of meals, we ask volunteers to start their routes between 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM.

Volunteers who deliver in Asheville city limits come to our building to get their meals/drinks. Come no earlier than 9:00 AM, after all the meals have been packed.

Volunteers who deliver outside city limits, and pick up meals from drop sites, can arrive at the designated drop off time for each specific site.

The meals for all routes within Asheville city limits are picked up our our building.

Meals for routes outside Asheville city limits are delivered by van to various drop sites. Each drop site has a specific delivery time that our team will inform you of. (You may also ask to pick up on “outlying” route in our main building, per prior arrangement with our Volunteer Coordinator.)

First, read the route sheet every time to see if there are any special delivery instructions.

Knock loudly on the door (or ring the doorbell), and give the client time to answer. Announce “Meals on Wheels”, so the client knows who’s at the door. If the client doesn’t answer, try again.

If no response, call the client (using the phone number provided on the route sheet).

If a client isn’t home and doesn’t answer the phone, call us. (Our number is listed at the bottom of the route sheet.)

At the start of the call, give us the client’s last name so we can find their information. A staff member will call the client’s contact to check-in.

CALLING THE OFFICE PROMPTLY when you can’t get a client at the door or on the phone helps us check on the client.

If a client is experiencing an emergency (e.g., fallen, losing consciousness, difficulty breathing, chest pain) call 911.

Do not attempt to move or lift the client.

After you can safely end a 911 call, promptly call us to explain what happened. We will follow-up with the client’s emergency contact.

Our social services team wants to stay informed about our homebound senior clients. When you have a concern about a client, call Shannon Callahan, our Social Services Director, at 828-253-5286.

Clients are asked to keep pets confined for safe delivery. However, if a pet is loose and you are uncomfortable delivering that client’s meal, promptly call Meals on Wheels. We will follow-up with the client.

If you do not safe based on the pet’s behavior, you do not have to deliver the meal.

If a client is not home, you may give that meal to another client on your route.

Meals cannot be left outside if a client is not home.

We understand that schedules change or emergencies happen that prevent you from delivering your regular route. If this happens, please notify us as early as possible so we can find a substitute to cover your route.

We close during major holidays, our two fundraiser events, and when the weather makes deliveries unsafe.

See our Closures page for holiday closings.

Stay tuned to WLOS for announcements of weather-related closings.

We ask that clients call in for pantry bags if they need meals for days which we are closed. Our volunteers can deliver those bags before the office closes.

For weather-related closings, clients can eat meals from a “snow box” we provide them in November. It’s filled with 5 shelf-stable meals.