Morrisville program helping seniors with grocery delivery during COVID-19

BUCKS COUNTY, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Volunteers from Ivin's Outreach Center are delivering 65 dinners to people in need during COVID-19. It's one of the ways the group is helping vulnerable groups stay safe, by allowing them to stay home.

Every day Tom Harwood trucks a car full of groceries around Lower Bucks County, hand-delivering them to people who need a little extra help during the lockdown.

Harwood is one of the volunteers with Ivin's Outreach Center who's making sure seniors don't have to leave their homes during this pandemic.

"I've been the beneficiary of a lot of kindness in my life, and now that I'm retired I have the time to say thank you by giving back," said Harwood.

Grocery delivery is just one service the outreach center provides with its "Staying Put" program for people over 55 years of age.

"When I need a ride to the doctor or just to have a volunteer come to do a little bit of yard work, they're there," said Antoinette Suchenko, one of the program's clients.

The team says it's currently helping more than 250 people, a number that has skyrocketed since the pandemic hit.

"When this epidemic came on, they came in droves and were here for them," said Milli Kerner, the program's coordinator. "I'm scared to death but I put my faith in God."

Kerner and her team say they're terrified putting themselves on the line every day, but it's worth it for the people they're able to serve.

"I feel like I have an extended family that's just a phone call away," said Suchenko.

Tuesday night, the team delivered 65 meals for families at Morrisville United Methodist Church and the program says it's also working with about 50 other organizations to make its "Staying Put" program possible.

"They say I just want to hug you but we can't hug, so when this epidemic is over, I can see all the hugs we're going to receive from our acts of kindness," said Kerner.