Meals on Wheels wasn't delivered, but they say it was. Has anyone else experienced this?

My experience with MOW, handled through the local senior center, is that the volunteers are exceptionally devoted and reliable, more so than a couple of so-called trained people provided through a private duty service I hired. These volunteers come out in the worst weather, check on my father, and provide not only the food but a welcome diversion in the morning.

Sometimes they aren't able to make the run, or don't leave food unattended at the door if the homeowner doesn't answer. Usually they call in to the Senior Center, and someone calls me directly to confirm that my father is at home and available to answer the door.


Once a volunteer helped my father when he help at the door, called the office and someone called me with a description of the event, so I could go out immediately to determine if he needed to go to the ER (he didn't).

There might have been an error, or a new volunteer went to a wrong address...anything could have happened. But I think the long term relationship with the MOW staff and volunteers is too important to focus on one missed meal. The volunteers are too precious to be put on the spot for one meal.

And buy some back up frozen meals, such as Lean Cuisine (which is preservative free) in the event that it happens again. The care helper could easily microwave a LC so your mother has a meal.

I would do this:

Contact the company and ask that they call YOU if a volunteer arrives and no one answers.

Make sure no vacuuming or noise producing activity is in process when the anticipated arrival of the food normally occurs.

I really would consider this a learning situation and not make an issue of it.

I agree with GardenArtist. I know several MOW volunteer drivers in my area and they are wonderful people. They do the very best they can and if they can't deliver a meal, there's usually a reason. But the ones I know are also seniors themselves, so if they run into a glitch, they may not have the technical knowledge or capability that younger folks do to handle the issue. For example, they may not carry a cell phone, to be able to call the office immediately to report an issue. The ones I know have a very set schedule and are usually very reliable. I agree to try to use this as a learning experience about how their system works so you know what to do in the future.

My experience with MOW volunteers is much like the above posters. Those people were absolutely lovely- friendly, attentive, would stop a just moment to chat but leaving quickly as they knew recipients were waiting for their meals. Don’t go too hard on them; I too would be inclined to let this go this time.

I'd ask to see the signature, what you do next depends on what that reveals.

My understanding is that in my area the delivery drivers are volunteers, and at least some of them are elderly themselves. Could the meals have been delivered to the wrong address? When Dad got them a few years ago, the delivery driver would sometimes call to say she was running late. Could the driver touch base with mom or you just before or upon delivery -- perhaps a text to you when done? It's an added step, again, for a volunteer, but worth asking. Also, I think that sometimes it's different delivery drivers for different days, just depending on the pool of volunteers. At least that's how I think it all works in my area.

I had them for quite a while. Because I also could not always hear them, when they were due I left the front door unlocked and they had permission to enter, let me know they were here, then lock the front door after themselves and post key through letter box.

Worked for me. :)

Good luck

I'm reading this as a weekly or bi monthly MOW frozen food delivery, not a daily delivery and a single missed meal. Where I live the delivery is made by volunteers but the meals themselves are now about $8 each so if a week or two week's supply went astray I'd be upset because as well as missed meals it could be substantial lost $$.

Talkey, hot meals delivered daily is what everybody thinks of when they hear about MOW but when you live in rural areas it just isn't practical. The OP mentioned "I looked in her freezer and saw no "new" food that was supposed to have been delivered on Monday", so I assume she is getting frozen meals.

Thanks everyone for responding. This wasn't a daily meal that was missed. On Mondays they are supposed to leave frozen meals for an entire week. They didn't, but claimed that the meals had been left. I believe they are not volunteers. One driver talked to us about getting a different job, so that makes me think it's a regular paid job for the delivery people. There are notes in the driver's system that say they should call my mother if she doesn't hear the knock on the door. Now, there is a note that asks them to call me before they deliver so that I can come to help my mother (if I'm not still at work). But, at least I'll know that they are on their way. My mother does have a HUGE note on her TV that reminds her not to take a shower or be in the other room where she can not hear the knock at the door on Mondays. Of course, the home health aide can see this note, too, so she should have not had my mother in the other room with her while she was vacuuming (when the last missed delivery happened). Also, my mother has a HUGE hang tag for the door that reminds the driver to call if she doesn't answer the door right away. (She might be in the bathroom.) Since the delivery is for a week's worth of meals, it's very important that the meals get delivered and we have taken many measures to be sure that the delivery happens. The fact that they insisted that the delivery had been made didn't sit well with me. I have been very patient every time I have called and not accusatory. I have spoken to four different people. I have been told three times that someone would call me back, but have not been called. Yesterday, I took my mother to a scheduled doctor's appointment. When we arrived back at her home, there was a hang tag note on her door that says they came and missed us. No one had let me know that they were going to come, apparently to deliver meals because of the missed delivery on Monday. (It was Friday.) I didn't miss their call. I had my cell phone in my pocket all day. And of course, on my smart phone, I can see what calls I might have missed. I am glad at least that they tried to correct the situation, but am surprised that no one called me to say that they were coming. The people on this forum who suggested that maybe the delivery was made to the wrong address might be right. That did occur to me after I posted my question. Still, the mystery about my mother's supposed initials being on the delivery form . . . . Well, it's in the past now, and at least they made an effort to do a delivery yesterday, even though it wasn't successful. Thanks for your helpful thoughts.

Clouds, missing a whole week's worth of meals is an entirely different situation than one missed meal. After reading CWillie's post on rural deliveries, and your lastest post, I see the situation in a different light.

I would insist on seeing the so-called initials on the form. And I think at this point I would also write a letter to the company, sent by certified mail, stating that you need to see the so-called initials. I'm beginning to think now that there's more to the situation that originally "met the eye".

If there was no food, yet allegedly it was delivered, where did it go?

Your post reminded me of something I learned about years ago. A felon was colluding with a driver for either the Salvation Army or Goodwill, stealing some of the donations and reselling them. I never would have thought that anyone with ill intentions would do exploit a charity, but the individual who shared the information hadaccurate information on what was stolen. And that was verified when the police became involved.


Sometimes there's just no explanation for scum of the earth who exploit others.

I'm even less confident that the disappearing food was just a mistake after thinking over the situation of an apparently for profit company managing the MOW program. I think volunteers are more reliable, companionable, and better than someone who's poorly paid to do a service that probably doesn't pay very much.

And I would stock up on reserve food in case it happens again.

Do you have any idea which agency contracted with this company? You might contact your local Area on Agency, or Senior Center, to see if they have any advice on the entity that granted the contract to the deliverer of food that mysteriously disappears. I believe there's a federal agency involved as well but can't recall which one at this moment.