Delivery service lets seniors grocery shop without leaving home
The Store to Door volunteer shoppers arrive at local Cub food stores between 5 and 6 am. In a year's time, they'll fill about 18,000 orders. The non-profit has a small staff but most are volunteers. One of them is Barb Pletcher who's whipping through the dairy aisle. She fills an order for extra large eggs. Before Pletcher puts them in her cart, she opens the lid to make sure there are no cracked eggs in the box. They're ok so she gently puts them in her cart.
"Some people hate grocery shopping and I thought this was one volunteer activity I could do because I don't mind shopping so that's probably why," said Pletcher. "I do some delivery in Stillwater and it's always the same people and I enjoy that too. Ok, I need an 8 ounce of Colby Jack cheese..."
The Store to Door volunteers are serious shoppers. They weave their carts through the twist and turns of the aisles at a clip that grand prix racers would envy. After they fill a cart, it goes in line with others at the front of the store until they check out all at once. The line of carts on this morning stretches several aisles long.
Then there's checkout, a montonous, almost rhythmic beeping. Once packed, volunteers either put the groceries in their cars to deliver, or, in a Store to Door white delivery van.
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Dan Hoff is dropping off the orders at a senior housing complex in Maplewood. He unloads the boxes filled with everything from ice cream to toilet paper to prescriptions. From there, another volunteer, Laura Harris puts the boxes on carts to deliver to residents on the various floors.
Her first delivery is to Mary who is 96, independent, and wants to stay that way.
"Hi Mary, how are you?" says Harris. "I have your groceries for you."
Entering Mary's immaculate apartment she gets up to greet us with the help of a walker.
"I can't stand very long," Mary tells her visitors. While we chat, Laura puts Mary's groceries away for her. When asked what the grocery service means to Mary, she points to her walker and says, "It means everything, I can't go out. I can't walk very far even with this."
She says she has relatives but doesn't want to bother them because they work. Today Mary's not only getting her groceries but also company.
When asked if she gets many visitors, Mary says, "Oh, I get enough. I don't care for too many. I'm so busy, I like to read, I read everything."
Laura asks Mary, "Have any coupons for me today?"
And now Mary pays for her groceries without ever leaving home. She gets a delivery every two weeks.
Next, Laura pushes her cart down the hallways to Audrey's apartment.
Audrey also has a walker and has trouble walking. She, like Mary and other seniors who use the serve say the service helps them stay independent by not having to ask for help:
"I never did depend on my kids or other people and sometimes I just think it's imposing," Audrey says. "I just don't like that and as long as you can live on your own somehow, that's how I like it."
Audrey has children but there are some older persons who have no one. They've outlived all of their family members and don't have children nearby so Store to Door can mean the difference between living independently or having to go into a nursing home. The cost difference is substantial. The government may subsidize up to $755 for each apartment each month. The government pays about $4,000 in the average nursing home each month.
Kris Zierman-Linnell of Store to Door says more importantly, the volunteers provide a connection to the outside world, even if it is just once every two weeks.
"We really are more than just grocery shopping," Zierman-Linnell says. "As you saw with the ladies that we visited, there's a little bit of friendship involved there and some extra caring from our staff and our volunteers. And I think that really makes us different."
Store to Door began 20 years ago with a handful of volunteers. Initially it served about 40 people but that number grew significantly in 2002, when state government began helping to fund the program. Now, the program serves about 1500 clients.
