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Homebound will have Y2K food Loaves and Fishes adds six extra meals to regular deliveries By VICKI GUARINO Residents who are too frail to stock up on supplies for the millennial weekend are getting extra, emergency meals delivered to their homes. Beginning today, Loaves and Fishes volunteers are bringing extra food to some 550 homebound residents in Jackson and Josephine counties. Six complete meals packed into a shoe box are being added to regular and holiday meal deliveries through Thursday, says ACCESS Senior Programs Director Jon Deason. The extras are intended to provide an extra measure of security in case of supply disruptions associated with Y2K problems. The effort is one of many measures being taken by local officials in response to Y2K worries. The concern is that some computer controlled communication and transportation systems could fail as calendars turn from 1999 to 2000. Out-of-date computers might misread the new date and malfunction. As far as homebound residents are concerned, Deason says, Loaves and Fishes staff are predicting no interruption in meals service. "We don't think anything is going to happen, but the meals will be there for other emergencies," Deason says. Packed inside the shoe boxes are a full six meals that meet the nutritional demands of an elderly person. Canned meals include lasagne, spaghetti, vegetable beef soup, beef stew, corned beef hash, tuna, plus powdered milk, bread sticks and other extras. The food can last in a cupboard for a year. Loaves and Fishes scheduled the millennial meals delivery five months ago, placing a special order with suppliers. Sufficient supplies, costing about $3 per meal, were ordered for 350 Jackson County homebound residents and another 200 homebound in Josephine County. The program is one of many under way around the country. Some delivery programs are adding just a few extras to regular deliveries. Others are including water, flashlights and batteries. Deason says there was no nationally organized Y2K food plan. Instead, programs such as ACCESS's Loaves and Fishes decided independently to take precautions. "We thought it up on our own," he says. Deason says the local action balances a desire for shut-ins to have food in case of a Y2K problem against a concern to avoid panic. "We're not doing a lot of preparation for this because we don't want to alarm people," Deason says. For that reason, the shoe boxes make no mention of Y2K or the New Year. The packages are labeled simply "meals for emergency." If any Y2K emergency occurs, Deason says, Loaves and Fishes already has worked out relief plans with state senior services officials and county agencies. Address lists of homebound residents have been turned over to the county for any additional Y2K needs. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA