AUSTIN, Minn. - We're several months into the coronavirus pandemic now and it seems like more and more people are starting to adapt to this new normal. That includes SMART Transit in Southern Minnesota, which is getting back to its usual duties after taking a different route.

Through a partnership between United Way, Mower County Senior Center and Hormel, over 62,000 meals were delivered to folks in the community struggling with food insecurity.
Some of the meals were from area restaurants that Hormel bought to support them in the process as well. SMART Transit had to make changes to it's usual services of transporting people, but the manager, Kirk Kuchera, told KIMT News 3 delivering these meals aligns with their mission. "Transporting people to appointments, pick up prescriptions or go to work or school, that's always our goal is to help those people in need," explained Kuchera. "It just looked different this time around."

Chris Thompson is the operational manager for SMART Transit and she said it was eye opening to see how many people struggle with having enough food on the table. "Sometimes this was the only person that some of these elderly people got to see. A lot of them weren't able to see their family because of the COVID," explained Thompson. "It was just really nice for them to have someone even to wave at or say hello to."

Beginning next week, SMART Transit will continue delivering meals twice a week to vulnerable adults in the area.