Grant Helps Monarch’s Beach Club with Transportation Needs

EJ and Christine, participants at Monarch’s Beach Club of Dare County day program, enjoy working together to deliver meals through Meals on Wheels.

Monarch’s Beach Club Community Engagement Team Leader Colleen Zoubek, BSQP, knows how important it is to the day program participants to return to volunteering and activities within their community.

Beach Club of Dare County is a Monarch program that offers activities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities that promote inclusion within their communities as well as programs like art, cooking, exercise and socialization that foster growth and independence.

The day program participants enjoy many positive benefits that volunteering offers but specifically the social interaction and the personal reward of giving back to their community. This vital part of the day program routine was paused in 2020 due to the pandemic and the restrictions imposed but has now been given the green light to start again.

Beach Club participants couldn’t be happier.

Beach Club recently received a $3,500 Outer Banks Community Foundation grant to be used toward a variety of activities including efforts within their community. Zoubek stated that they decided to use the grant to purchase fuel allowing day program participants to continue their work delivering meals to people in need through Dare County’s Meals on Wheels (MOW) program, a weekly meal delivery program.

The Beach Club’s operating budget, due to many COVID-19 restrictions, found it necessary to include transportation expenses such as fuel to and from the day program for individuals who lacked viable options. The day program serves an expansive area in Dare County with public transportation not always an option or possible for the population served, and many services have temporarily shut down during the pandemic. Zoubek pointed out that, sadly, lack of transportation deters people supported from attending the day program.

Zoubek said she is appreciative of the Outer Banks Foundation’s continued support of the Beach Club, as the Monarch day program has been the recipient of a variety of their grants in the past. “We want very much to return to normal. Our people are tired of staying at home and once they come back to the Beach Club they want go out and volunteer and do things for others. This grant will help us to do that,” she remarked.

Monarch’s Beach Club day program participants Gina, left, and Steve, right, are grateful to get back to volunteering with Meals on Wheels.

The Outer Banks Foundation grant will allow the day program participants to continue volunteering throughout the community with the grant funds purchasing fuel for the 12-passenger van used during volunteer assignments, Zoubek noted.

Beach Club participants are used to seeing smiles and hearing a heartfelt thank you during Meals on Wheels deliveries. This year the Dare County agency that coordinates Meals on Wheels has expressed personal thanks for the dependable Beach Club volunteers who are eager to get back to their MOW routes.

“For the folks to be able to participate in Meals on Wheels is amazing. We often get personal thanks from the agency that runs the Meals on Wheels program,” Zoubek shared, noting that Dare Club volunteers are happy to fill in where and when needed in addition to their usual routes.