Meals on Wheels goes digital in Sudbury, Ont. with new app for drivers' routes

Meals on Wheels in Sudbury, Ont. is launching a new app for staff and volunteers that could "revolutionize" the way they do their routes, according to its executive director.

Executive director Shannon Ketchabaw said the organization has been working closely with software developers in southern Ontario to build an app that will move them away from their current paper-based system for route planning.

Right now, Ketchabaw said drivers with the organization, who deliver meals to people in need, each get a paper sheet with their list of deliveries for the day.

The new app turns those lists digital, and syncs up with the navigation in their phones or cars as they go out on deliveries.

"So it's supposed to make the service a bit more efficient," Ketchabaw.

Meals on Wheels (Sudbury) got a $75,000-grant from the Trillium Foundation to build the app.

In its description the foundation says the "application that will re-imagine meal delivery resulting in increased volunteer and client satisfaction."

When applying for the funds Ketchabaw said they checked to see if any other Meals on Wheels organizations had a similar app already.

"I didn't want to reinvent the wheel before we applied for the money and then determined that no, but there was a lot of interest," she said.

They are currently testing the app and plan to roll it out with staff first, and then volunteers in the next couple of months.

If other Meals on Wheels organizations plan to go digital, Ketchabaw said they won't have to start from scratch now that Sudbury will have a working app.