Delivering with Dignity helps seniors and veterans

Every weekday in downtown Reno, volunteers and employees with the Liberty Food and Wine Exchange gather to load prepared meals into cars and vans waiting in an alley.

The program is called “Delivering with Dignity.” Over the last five weeks, they made and delivered about 10,000 meals in the Truckee Meadows.

Driver Kristin Greenstreet says dropping meals off to seniors and veterans is the highlight of her week.

“And they are brave, and I am proud of them,” says Greenstreet of the seniors she serves. “Because for me each knock on the door, for me, there is a sense of compassion for me about giving service.”

United Way and 30 to 40 of its non-profit organizations help qualify residents for the program. They receive three meals every delivery, and volunteers bring them to the resident's door. The local restaurant or catering company receives six dollars per meal.

Money comes from local donations to pay for Delivering with Dignity. The program is the brainchild of Nevada Lt. Gov.Kate Marshall.

“People are so excited,” says Marshall. “I went down to the kitchen everyone is wearing a mask. Everyone is wearing a mask. Everyone has gloves. There is this energy. Because everyone was working, and they are working for something good for the community.”

Marshall says the restaurant has had to bring in their laid off workers to fulfill the orders.

One of those workers was a dishwasher who was employed for 20 years before the pandemic shut the restaurant’s doors.

Once you see the reaction from “Delivering with Dignity” recipients it's easy to see where the program gets its name. The seniors are happy, they wave at the volunteers holding brown bags just for them. One woman told us, “the food is surprisingly good.”

If you would like to donate to "Delivering with Dignity" or think you can benefit from the program, please call 775-391-0525