Stolen Meals-on-Wheels Truck Found

Early Monday morning, just as a Meals-on-Wheels driver in the Houston area was beginning to deliver hot food to home-bound seniors, someone stole his truck. The driver just walked out of the North Harris County apartment building where a delivery was being made, and the truck was gone!

Meals-on-Wheels delivers hot food to about 3300 seniors in that area every Monday through Friday. With about 1000 seniors currently on their waiting list, the loss of a $35,000 truck, not to mention the food on the truck, would be a major setback to the program’s efforts.

Customarily, trucks have been left running during deliveries in order to maintain a constant temperature for the food throughout the delivery route, but an unfortunate situation such as this may be cause for a procedural change. An option mentioned would be to have an extra key made, so that the truck could be locked yet remain running during deliveries.

On a positive note, the missing truck was found on Monday evening, along with about 80 meals inside. News reports didn’t mention whether or not the food was salvageable, but at least the truck was found undamaged. And thanks to what appears to be a well-organized Meals-on-Wheels program, those seniors awaiting a hot meal on Monday did receive a substitute meal on that day.