Experience and Scale
We are the largest and most comprehensive meal delivery program in the five county Greater Philadelphia region; continuously in operation since 1974, we serve over 2000 individuals currently, making us 10 times the size of the typical meal service in the area and have served over 14,000 friends since our inception.

We serve the entire five-county Greater Philadelphia area through our network of volunteers and coordinators.  We do not exlude any neighborhoods in the region from our service.

Our meals and outreach services are provided free of charge, enabling those served to conserve their limited fixed-incomes for their other necessities and living expenses.

We do not impose any time limit on our services to our friends, nor is there an age requirement for the program.  Anyone who is in need, isolated and homebound can qualify for our services.  Most of our clients are elderly however about a quarter of our served group are individuals under 60 who are homebound from disabilities.  

Philosophy

All that we do honors the dignity of every individual involved in our program – cooks, coordinators, volunteer visitors, clients and staff – and realizes our belief that good begets good.

The fellowship aspect of our mission is just as important as the food aspect.  Each volunteer spends quality time visiting when they deliver the meals.  Each friend is matched with the same volunteer who they will see each week leading to deep and beautiful friendships.

We value the fact that all of our meals are homemade by a bevy of cooks who share their time, talent and creations with us.  This system ensures that a good variety of food is available for our clients to enjoy each day. 

Recognizing the humanity of each of our clients, we strive to acknowledge holidays, birthdays and other important milestones in their lives with personal gifts and cards.

Services

We provide each of our program friends with one balanced meal per day- meals are delivered in a once weekly visit from their volunteer visitor in frozen metal trays and can be reheated for serving daily.

In addition to this daily meal, Aid For Friends might also provide  frozen soups and breakfast items where needed.  We also provide items that might improve the safety and security of our clients such as smoke detectors, fans, daily pill dispensers etc. 

Operations

Friends in need of our services are referred to us by hospitals, social workers, churches, neighbors and children who live remotely from parents in our area.  All referred individuals are evaluated by one of our volunteer coordinators and if eligible for the program, are then matched with a volunteer visitor.  We also operate several meal centers to serve individuals in areas of the city which we cannot service through our volunteer base as well as our Quick Serve service which delivers meals on an emergency basis throughout the city.  Please see our contact details if you have further questions about our process.

We maintain a network of freezers throughout the area in churches, synagogues and other community centers where volunteer cooks can drop off meals and pick up supplies to package new meals, and volunteer visitors can come to pick up meals to deliver to their friend.  We also maintain a headquarters office in Northeast Philadelphia from which we administer the program and our other outreach activities, store supplies and meals in our warehouse, and operate a commercial kitchen which is used  to prepare meals for us by larger service groups.