
Chelsea and QRyde Collaborate to Serve Emergency Food Deliveries of 2,100 meal boxes to Veterans over 7 Months
Chelsea, MA – Today concludes seven (7) months of unique food delivery services to approximately 2100 meal boxes to veterans within the City of Chelsea, MA. Initiated during the height of Covid-19 within Massachusetts, emergency food delivery was initiated through Ben Cares, Dept. of Housing and Community Development, utilizing the QRyde Corporation of Lowell, MA. QRyde is a transportation solutions company who uses a unique services model to schedule and coordinate the deliveries through 3rd party transportation providers who provide non-emergency medical transportation services in MA
“Chelsea was proactive in identifying the Veterans’ needs”, said Ben Cares, “they were a high priority group who needed assistance”. This assistance came in the form of at home deliveries of a packaged meal. Each week, approximately 80 – 100 individual meal deliveries were made. Ben Cares said, “This not only provided emergency food and nutrition, but also provided an opportunity for contact and checking on our Veterans in a non-intrusive manner”. Any perceived health or other issues observed during the deliveries were immediately reported and checked out.
QRyde utilizes a unique software and local delivery venders to make the food distribution a success. “Our model is very versatile”, said Mital Parikh, Director of Micro-Transit Services, “whether moving people or, in this case emergency food deliveries, we can make it happen”. QRyde operates locally and nationally to work with transportation systems and public agencies to meet their transportation needs. The food and deliveries were funded through the City of Chelsea through the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (MAPC) funds. The Chelsea Community and Housing Development Department has been active on many fronts during the pandemic for its citizens. Other activities by the City of Chelsea included transportation to seniors.