Harleysville Resident Directs Meals Program

Shushma Patel

POTTSTOWN PA – Harleysville PA resident Shushma Patel has been named director of the Meals on Wheels program operated from the Sanatoga village offices of the non-profit Family Services of Montgomery County.

In her new position, Patel will manage the program’s day-to-day operations, including fund-raising, volunteer recruitment, supervision of volunteers and staff, and coordination of meal packing and delivery routes.

Patel most recently worked for five years as program director and geriatric outreach counselor for Family Services’ Project HEARTH (Helping Elderly Adults Remain in Their Homes). She has also served as a temporary therapeutic foster care social worker for Social Work PRN in Fort Washington PA, and as an intake coordinator and social worker for Baptist Children’s Services in Collegeville PA.

Patel received a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s in business administration from the Keller Graduate School of Management. In addition, she is a 2010 graduate of the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s Emerging Leaders Program, and has completed the Geriatric Training Program of Boston University’s School of Social Work.

Each weekday, Family Services’ Meals on Wheels program provides two meals, a hot lunch and a cold supper to refrigerate, to an average of 160 home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Community volunteers personally deliver over 81,000 meals a year.

For more information on Meals on Wheels, call 610-326-1610.