The Camp Verde Marshal’s Office Volunteers in Police Services, or VIPs, have partnered with the Verde Valley Senior Center to help deliver food to those in need through the Meals on Wheels program.
Meals on Wheels, which is run locally by the Verde Valley Senior Center, delivers food to seniors on a daily basis throughout the entire Verde Valley community, including four dedicated areas of Camp Verde.
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the center saw a decline in the number of volunteers to help deliver the meals, which put a significant strain on the program.When the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office saw there was a need in the community, they decided to jump in and help.
“This is a great opportunity to get involved with the community and provide a much-needed service,” Camp Verde Marshal Corey Rowley said in a statement.
The need was initially brought to the CVMO’s attention by a VIP who was already involved with Meals on Wheels, Lt. Stephen Butler said.
“We currently have a VIP who closely works with that organization, and she brought the need to us. They were shorthanded, personnel-wise, and we saw this as a great opportunity to help out,” he said.
Some of the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office VIPs, currently two volunteers, were able to tackle an entire area of Camp Verde as a team, taking the pre-packaged meals from the senior center in Cottonwood and delivering them along the route over the course of two to three hours.
The VIPs made the first of many deliveries on Sept. 15, which they plan to continue each week for as long as they’re needed. The VIP program offers multiple volunteer opportunities for interested community members, including Citizens on Patrol, Speed Monitoring Awareness Radar Trailer [SMART] Deployment, and positions as crime prevention coordinators, customer service/records specialists, police chaplains, special projects assistants and victim notification specialists.
“We provide special services such as patrols of the community, road closures for special events [like] Fort Verde Days, Corn Fest, Trunk or Treat. They assist at major crime scenes to free up deputies,” Butler said.
Those who are interested in volunteering with the VIP program must submit an application, pass a background and fingerprint check, and complete a 10-week “VIP Academy.”
For more information about Meals on Wheels, visit verdevalleyseniorcenter.org. For information about becoming a VIP, contact Martin at 554-8308.
