Home > Make a Difference in a Few Hours > Go Grocery Shopping for a Malnourished Neighbor

GO GROCERY SHOPPING FOR A MALNOURISHED NEIGHBOR

by Mary King
grocery shopping

Grocery shopping can be a harrowing task for elderly and disabled people with mobility problems, visual impairment, poor balance, difficulty in checkout lines, and physical strength limitations. Inclement weather, out-of-reach items, and impatient cashiers can compound the problem. As a result, some of your elderly and disabled neighbors may be avoiding grocery shopping to the point of malnourishment.

Malnutrition and deprivation increase risk of chronic health problems. 85% of the elderly have one or more chronic conditions that would benefit from nutrition interventions, according to The American Academy of Family Physicians.

You can make a difference by offering a ride or a pair of helping hands. But a safe trip is only the beginning. Your intervention might add a few more healthy years to someone's life.

You can either help with grocery shopping in person or help the elderly and disabled shop for groceries online.

In-person:

  • Perhaps you know an elderly neighbor or disabled friend that would like to go grocery shopping and could use a ride to the grocery store.
  • An offer of grocery shopping assistance to a disabled or elderly member from your church congregation is a most welcome gesture.
  • Look for a Center for Independent Living in your community for those interested in an assisted trip to the grocery store.
  • Retirement centers and assisted living homes happily recruit volunteers to take residents to the grocery store.
  • Once you have connected with someone interested in going grocery shopping with you, draft a grocery shopping list together before heading to the store.

Online:

  • There are several grocery stores that allow you to shop online: Albertsons, Peapod, Netgrocer, and Schwan's Fine Frozen Foods.
  • You can help the elderly or disabled person shop for him/herself in the future by creating and saving a shopping list at the online grocer of their choice. This is particularly helpful for seniors, who are often less familiar with the internet. Once you create the online shopping list, the elderly or disabled person need only sign on to the website and click for redelivery of the saved list.