When my father was diagnosed with an agressive form of brain cancer, our lives were instantly changed. There was a steep learning curve, a flurry of doctor’s visits, and, eventually, 24/7 care for Dad through debilitating medical treatments and the progression of the disease.
One of the greatest blessings to our family during that time was the loving care of fellow church members. A steady stream of my parents’ small group members and others from the community brought freshly prepared meals in generous portions.
Friends and acquaintances brought giant roasts of beef, lasagna, salads, desserts, and more. Even with my 19-year old weight-lifting brother at home, there was plenty to freeze and share.
This gave my mother the critical time and energy she needed to coordinate doctor appointments, source medical equipment for home use, coordinate transportation, and learn to do tasks her husband had managed for more than 25 years of marriage.
Chances are, you know someone who needs a meal right now or will soon. Whether friends are celebrating the birth of a new baby, recovering from illness, or grieving the death of a family member, a meal train allows you and one or more friends to “feed the hungry” in an organized and coordinated way. Free online tools make it easy to coordinate contact information, drop-off times, menu suggestions and provide for allergies and food sensitivities.
Below are a few ways to start a meal train – find the one that works for you!
Signup Genius
Signup Genius is a free online platform with live updates allowing participants to make and see changes in real time. They even provide time-saving templates and design themes making it easy to customize your own online sign up sheets for your group or occasion.
Meal Train
Meal Train was co-founded by Kathleen and Michael Laramee to support neighbors after the birth of a new baby. It has built-in features making it easy to share meal preferences and coordinate drop-off times. The platform makes it easy for meal providers and recipients to message each other. Built-in email reminders even share helpful etiquette tips and reminders to make everythig ru smoothly.
Google Sheets
If you want to keep things ultra simple and ad-free in a closed group, you can skip the built-in messaging and design features, and go with a shared Google spreadsheet. The Google sheet will share all contact information with anyone who has access to it, so this is best used in a closed group in which members already have given consent for their contact information to be shared with other group members.
You can add notes about meal preferences, allergies, and drop-off times at the top, a list of meal providers and dates, and contact information. Here is an example. To use it for yourself, simply open the file, select File in the upper left of the menu, select Copy, and Add a copy to your Google Drive. Any changes will be published in real time.
Old School: For the Tech-Avoider
If you are organizing a meal train with a group that meets regularly, you can simply pass around a notebook or printed signup sheet with columns for Names, emails, phone numbers and dates. The meal train coordinator can then create send reminders and coordinate any changes or updates as needed.
Email Updates
The Meal Train and SIgnup Genius platforms have built-in email reminders. Both have a feature that allows you to create and automate customized email updates for each occasion and group.
If you are coordinating a meal train manually with Google Sheets or a pen-and-paper sign-up sheet, you can make your job easier by pre-scheduling all of your reminders in one batch and creating or using pre-existing email templates to save time.
Below are a couple of reminder examples to get you started – just copy and customize the emails as needed or make your own templates from scratch!
Subject: Meal Train – Thank you for volunteering!
Thank you for volunteering to bring dinner to the [NAME] family on [DATE]. Meal drop-off time is between the hours of 4-6 pm.
[Add any details about food restrictions or allergies here]
The address is: [ADDRESS + any pertinent details making it easier to find the home]
If you need to change your date or have questions, please reach out to me at this email or call/text me at [MOBILE NUMBER].
Thank you again for sharing your time, treasure, and meal!
Blessings,
[Name]
Reminders (send the day before and the morning of):
Subject: Meals for [NAME]- Tomorrow
Subject: Meal Train – Today is the day!
Thank you again for committing to bring a meal to the [NAME] family.
Here are the details:
Date:[DATE]
Address: [ADDRESS]
Delivery Instructions: Bring between 4 and 6 pm and ring front door bell.
Name and phone number of family contact: [NAME, PHONE NUMBER]
How to contact me: [MOBILE NUMBER]