Every Wednesday morning, a group of people from the Snake Creek community gather at Indian Springs Outpost and get to cooking.

No, it’s not the orders for folks who stop by the store for their lunches. It’s actually for people who won’t even drop by the business at 4373 Greenberry Road that day.

Neighbor’s Hands delivers food to shut-ins living in Snake Creek, Laurel Fork, Gladesboro and Fancy Gap at no charge. Area youth volunteer to deliver the meals, which gives them a sense of fulfillment, while giving area shut-ins some much-needed human contact.

“It gives some of the people who have been shut-in for a while, and some that are not necessarily not always shut in, gives them a little contact with the community,” said Jerry Worrell, who has been instrumental in getting the program off the ground.

Worrell said the idea took off because people realized there was a need.

“It was something there was a need for in the community,” she said. “We’re doing about 40 meals now and that’s just in this immediate area. There’s a need for it.”

Neighbor’s Hands is strictly donation-based. Worrell said food donations, time donations and monetary donations are accepted and welcomed.

“We’ve had neighbors who have baked cakes and donated those,” Worrell said. “We have people who donate large cans of food, small cans of food, whatever.”

Other activities, such as Rook tournaments every other Saturday at Indian Springs Outpost also helps to finance the meals and travels.

Several adults and teens meet each Wednesday morning to begin preparations. They begin cooking that morning, and by about 10 a.m. or earlier, they’re packaging the meals. When the drivers come, the teens then go with them to deliver the food to those who can’t get out on their own.

“The kids help with the delivery and have met some of the older folks and got acquainted with them,” Worrell said. “It’s kind of tied the generations together.”

Worrell said the deliveries have impacted the teens and the elderly equally.

“We get calls from a lot of them saying it was such a wonderful thing,” Worrell said. “Our reward is an emotional reward. The kids come back with stories of how great it was to see the smiles on their faces.”

And then, it’s not that uncommon for the youngsters to return to visit again.

“They have also been going back, walking to these older folks’ homes and spending time with them because of this,” Worrell said.

With school back in session, Neighbor’s Hands is in need of a fresh crop of volunteers. If anybody is interested in helping, or knows somebody who is need of services, they can call 728-4588.

Worrell said she hopes the program eventually branches off and tackles other challenges in addition to delivering meals to elderly shut-ins.

“We’re hoping it will grow,” Worrell said. “We would love to do more. We would like to expand and do repairs for some of them. We’re just taking it a little at a time.”