IA Volunteer FFs Deliver Groceries to Rural Elderly Residents

May 4, 2020
Badger Mayor Chris Wendell, who also serves as a volunteer firefighter, started the program that has members picking up food and other items for older residents worried about contracting COVID-19.

Volunteer firefighters in a rural Iowa district are delivering groceries to older residents unable to go to the store for fear of being exposed to COVID-19.

Badger Mayor Chris Wendell, who also serves as a volunteer firefighter, began the initiative to pick up food and other items for anyone 60 years or older, KCCI-TV reports. He borrowed the idea from a nearby town offering a similar program.

"It's just one more way that we can help the elderly in our area to stay safe," Wendell told KCCI. "I know there's several that don't feel comfortable going out and picking up groceries and having contact with the public."

As part of the program, firefighters will pick up elderly residents' online orders at the store and then deliver them. In some cases, volunteers will even pick up grocery lists and do the shopping, KCCI added.