Amanda, a Greene County Department of Human Services staff member, told the board the county prepares roughly 123 home-delivered meals daily and has 158 recipients enrolled, with 11 temporarily on hold for rehab or travel.

She said a recent volunteer recruitment push generated seven online applications: three applicants were unavailable for midday hot-meal shifts, one agreed to serve only as a substitute and three did not respond to follow-up for background checks. That created recurring gaps—staff covered multiple routes in November and December, particularly on longer mountaintop runs. Amanda said one returning employee recently resumed mountaintop routes and another candidate is in onboarding and background checks.

To address coverage limits, staff are expanding partnerships with local agencies such as the ARC and Living Resources to take on combination routes in valley towns. For very remote addresses the program is offering commercially delivered "mom's meals," which are delivered to the door by carriers when county drivers cannot safely reach homes. Amanda noted that route modifications are made when several recipients cluster nearby to avoid long single trips.

Amanda also described winter safety protocols: Athens and Ecra centers will remain open during inclement weather while some transport and centers may close in areas with school shutdowns or hazardous roads; staff will be reassigned to open centers when possible. The county will avoid transporting on consistently unsafe routes after citing a recent vehicle collision as a reason to tighten transport decisions.

Board members asked about outreach and calendar management; Amanda said Francesca and Rose Bundy assist with scheduling and that the ARC will take on routes in some areas. The county plans additional public outreach and media efforts to recruit volunteers and will continue a mix of staff coverage and substitutes to maintain deliveries.

The county did not provide firm counts of how many route-days were lost to call-outs beyond the November and December examples; no new policy changes were adopted at the meeting.