HOT SPRINGS, S.D. (KELO) — Two groups in Hot Springs are providing well-balanced meals for those in need across their community.
Brookside affordable housing and Meals on Wheels in Hot Springs provide food for over 100 people each day.
“We’re helping out a lot of people that are handicapped, that can’t get out. Covid really hurt us, but we’re trying to get people to come out but they’re just very weary of coming out and so we’re still feeding them and we feed basically 60 and over,” Hot Springs Meals on Wheels Supervisor Ruby McNare said.
“I think it’s good because everybody needs some food and stuff like that. We’re pretty far away from everybody out here. You know 25 miles and a lot of people don’t have cars and can’t afford to drive so it’s nice that we have places to give us food,” Brookside Food Provider Caren Howard said.
These locations are just two of many that help provide food for those here in Hot Springs. Just last month alone these two individuals provided over 3,000 different meals.
Every meal costs money but both groups are making sure these meals are available for anyone who needs them.
“If you can just give me two to three dollars, just something to kind of tie it over a little bit for the food. Some give me a dollar, some give me five dollars. So I don’t necessarily say this is what you owe me, just what you can give me and still have money at the end to live on,” Howard said.
McNare also started to prepare and hand out Blizzard Bags, which are ready-to-go meals in poor weather.
“They would throw these blizzard bags into their vehicles. If they had to go to town and something would happen that they didn’t make it back, they had food to sustain them. So we have a lot of extra people that we need to take care of and this is how we’re going to go about it and get there,” McNare said.
Both of these groups want to make sure that nobody is left without affordable food in their community.
Meals on Wheels has an “Adopt a Senior Program”, if you would like to learn more you can find information here.
