About Us
Mission
- Provide a noon day hot meal in a dining room and by Meals on Wheels to homebound persons who feel the need for such nourishment.
- Seek volunteers to operate and maintain the program.
- Encourage donations of food, facilities, supplies, and money.
- Provide a loving, caring, wholesome atmosphere among recipients and volunteer.
History
After becoming aware of hungry people in Radford, a group of citizens and the Radford Ministerial Association began RFDB 1992 . For years we served daily meals in the Radford Church of God in Christ and paid for a bus to transport people to and from the facility. In its first year, 6,350 meals were served and the demand tripled by 1995.
In 1997 RFDB contracted with the Lions Club to rent the kitchen facilities in the Lions Club building at 501 East Main Street, Radford. The charges for the van became too expensive. The less central location and the lack of transportation resulted in a decline in number of guests served. Still, 12,769 meals were served in 2006.
Radford University provided much of the food for our kitchen. This was an immensely valuable contribution, for which we were most appreciative. Recently, however, food donations from the university have dropped off. That increased our need for support from the rest of the community.
In 2006 the Carillion New River Valley Medical Center stopped providing Meals on Wheels to Radford when their food production moved to Roanoke. The RFDB Board decided to absorb Meals on Wheels and provide food out of the kitchen on East Main. It has since added routes to provide food to the home-bound in Fairlawn. Currently, RFDB is providing 40 to 50 meals daily to the home-bound.
Some volunteers who started the organization are still with us today, having faithfully served their community for 17 years.
Organization
According to its By-Laws, it is managed by a Board of Directors, one of whom is a member of the Radford-Fairlawn Ministerial Association. Officers are Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. Standing committees find food sources, maintain the facility, find and organize volunteers, create publicity, oversee finances, among other aspects of maintaining the organization. A part time employee manages the daily kitchen operations.
Current Officers:
Chair: Jerry Higgins
Vice-Chair: Larry Phillips
Secretary: Bob MacLeod
Treasurer: Bob Lockwood
Current Board of Directors:
Barbara Berry
Bonnie Dean
Janelle Dobbins
Jerry Higgins
Doris Hendrickson
Bob Lockwood
Bob MacLeod
Larry Phillips
Chris Reisman
Bob Swindel
Bob Thomas
Mary Whitlock
Sources of Support
- Individuals who donate food and money.
- Volunteers who donate their time in the kitchen and dining room or delivering Meals on Wheels.
- Volunteers who donate their time to maintain RFDB by serving on the Board and committees to maintain the organization and the facilities.
- Wade's Food, Inc., Radford provides breads, pastries weekdays.
- Heiner's bakery of Huntington, W. VA provides bread weekdays.
- Kroger, Radford provides bread two days per week.
- Food Lion stores of Blacksburg and Radford deliver a variety of food occasionally.
- United Way has provided major funding since 1992.
- Trollinger Trust provides grant funding.
- Second Harvest Food Bank provides food at a significantly reduced cost.
- National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) provides donated food from their annual food collection drive.
- Some local churches help identify people in need and provide financial aid.
- FEMA provides grant funding.
- City of Radford Department of Social Services pays for some people getting Meal on Wheels.
- SHARE Virginia provides food at a significantly reduced cost.