MARTIN SLOANE | Supermarket Shopper Shopping alternatives are available for elderly and homebound

Grocery shopping can be a serious problem for the elderly and the homebound. The ability to get food affects their health and well-being. As one person told me, groceries may be the difference between being able to live in their own home or being forced into a group living facility.
A homebound reader recently complained that supermarkets in her area did not accept telephone orders, and because she did not have a computer, she couldn't order on the Internet as they suggested. A decade ago, many supermarkets around the country allowed customers to order by phone and provided home delivery. This note from a supermarket worker explains why many of them abandoned the service:
Dear Martin: Our store accepted grocery orders over the phone for a year or so. We took telephone orders on Sunday afternoon from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Some customers called early in the morning and others called late at night. One lady called in the middle of the night and the night crew took the order. Another customer could not talk long on the phone so she called as many as six times before we had her order written down. The phone service required at least two of our people to take the orders, then two or three more to shop for them.
While waiting until we had an employee free to make deliveries, the bags were put in the dairy cooler, freezer or, if they were dry goods, left out in carts. It got to be a mess. Some of the customers wanted the groceries unpacked and some asked for their garbage to be taken out. The average order was about $40 (not a lot when you consider the wages of the half dozen employees it took to handle and deliver them). The day the store manager told us not to take any more telephone orders was a day of celebration. An e-mail from Ohio
I can understand that the workers were relieved but I am certain that for many of homebound customers in this town it was a disaster.
After writing the original response to my homebound reader, I felt the need to further explore other shopping alternatives. To find them in my town, Boca Raton, Fla., I called several public agencies and private groups. At city hall, I was referred to the local Helping Hand food center. It provides the needy with bags of groceries and has a meals-on-wheels program, but it does not do grocery shopping. I called the county Elder Help Line and was referred to Boca Raton Interfaith in Action.
The volunteer organization Boca Raton Interfaith in Action provides help to local residents including taking them to supermarkets or doing their grocery shopping for them. President Connie Siskowski, started the nonprofit group in 1998 after she visited an elderly homebound friend and found only a box of baking soda in her friend's refrigerator.
During our conversation, Siskowski mentioned that a student volunteer had visited some of the homebound and with a laptop computer attempted to shop for groceries online. But a local supermarket's online grocery shopping service proved to be impractical because of the $50 minimum order and the added delivery charge. Also her organization's funding sources have diminished and it is struggling to survive. Donations can be sent to Boca Raton Interfaith in Action, 3850 N.W. 2nd Avenue, Suite 23, Boca Raton, FL 33431, 561-391-7401.
Churches
During my search for grocery shopping alternatives for the homebound, I was told to call local churches. I called several in Florida. St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church has a large congregation of 6,700 families. Ellie Daniels, the coordinator of homebound ministry, estimates that 80 congregants receive shopping help from their neighbors. About 10 others ask for the Church's help and other volunteers shop for them.
There are also private individuals who take a shopper to the supermarket or do the shopping for an hourly charge. One church contact who refers congregants to them, said, "it is less than the cost of a taxi, and the service provider helps shop the aisles and unpack the groceries."
My town is fortunate to have people like Siskowski and Daniels who care about their neighbors who need help. Do the homebound find help with their grocery shopping in your town? Please write and tell me about it. Write to me, Martin Sloane, The Supermarket Shopper, in care of The Vindicator. I publish the most interesting letters.
United Features Syndicate