At a recent webinar hosted by the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs (NANASP), Blooming Health and Liberty Meals on Wheels shared a powerful message: technology doesn’t have to replace the human touch, it can amplify it.

Haley Keller Strauss, Community Services Manager at Liberty Meals on Wheels in Missouri, joined Blooming Health in this webinar to share the ways her team has been leveraging Blooming Health’s platform to reach more people with life-saving meals.

Between unpredictable weather, staffing shortages, shifting policies, and evolving client needs, her team has to juggle far more than meals. Read on to see how the Blooming Health platform is helping the Liberty Meals on Wheels staff connect people with life-saving nutrition resources.

When the Blizzard Hit, Tech Was Ready Before the Snow Fell

Haley was preparing for a blizzard. The Liberty Meals on Wheels program serves about 80 to 90 homebound clients every day. Suddenly, she was facing the prospect of canceling deliveries for the week due to an incoming blizzard.

Before Blooming Health, this would’ve meant calling each recipient—one by one—in multiple languages, during an already chaotic storm response. But thanks to a rapid onboarding with Blooming Health (turned around in just 24 hours), Haley and her team were able to send multilingual alerts to her entire list instantly via each recipient’s preferred method: text, voice, or email.

Then came the real power: an automated phone survey. It simply asked, “Press 1 if you’re good on food. Press 2 if you’re running low.” The responses gave her team something that’s rare during a crisis—clarity. Nearly 10% of her clients reported they were running dangerously low on food. Volunteers were quickly mobilized to get emergency meals out.

From Quick Touchpoints to Meaningful Conversations

At first, Haley worried that using an automated communication platform might take away from the program’s most human element: personal relationships. In fact, she had even hired a part-time staffer just to help make more phone calls and deepen those touchpoints.

But something unexpected happened. With Blooming Health handling the repetitive tasks—like sending reminders, confirming deliveries, or conducting surveys—her team was freed up to have better conversations.

Clients still called back. They still wanted to chat. But now, those chats weren’t rushed. They had space for connection, storytelling, even a laugh. And through surveys, some clients even left voicemail responses—full of gratitude, warmth, and details that would’ve been lost in a spreadsheet. As Haley put it,

“It’s allowed us to have more meaningful conversations, not fewer.”

Data That Moves Hearts and Budgets

For any CBO, data collection is essential. Grant funders love feel-good stories, but they also need hard numbers. With Blooming Health, Liberty Meals on Wheels was able to collect both.

Surveys sent through the platform helped them gather insights on everything from service satisfaction to unmet needs. Better yet, these surveys were easy for clients to complete—no logins or portals required—and the responses came back in real time. Liberty’s staff used that data not only to report outcomes, but to make the case for continued funding in an environment where budgets are growing tighter.

As Haley explained, “We’re using the data to advocate for our program. To show that yes, this work matters—and yes, it’s reaching people who’d otherwise go unseen.”

Adapting in the Face of Policy Shifts

That last point is especially urgent. Many local agencies, responding to federal funding changes, are shifting clients from daily hot meal delivery to less frequent frozen meal drop-offs. While that might check the box for food delivery, it serves a critical human link, the daily wellness check.

Haley is already thinking ahead. Her team is launching a new initiative called “Snack & A Smile”—a weekly volunteer visit that delivers a healthy snack and, more importantly, a friendly face. Using Blooming Health, they’ll screen for loneliness and track client engagement to ensure no one is falling into isolation.

It's a powerful example of how automation isn’t about doing less. It’s about making space to do what matters more.

Scaling Without Losing Touch

Liberty isn’t alone. Across the country, organizations like Meals on Wheels Atlanta and Allegheny County are using Blooming Health to solve similar problems.

When Atlanta was hit by a rare snowstorm, Blooming Health enabled staff to alert over 500 clients about delivery changes in minutes, not hours. In New York, Allegheny County uses the platform to send quick updates to its drivers, track timecards, and keep routes efficient, even in a large rural area where conditions can vary dramatically from one region to the next.

For both clients and staff, it’s about removing barriers to communication, to coordination, to care.

Meeting the Moment with Smarter Outreach

The platform’s flexibility is part of what makes it so powerful. It supports multi-site agencies managing multiple senior centers, allowing for localized messaging with centralized oversight. It’s also helping programs launch innovative outreach efforts—from social determinants of health (SDOH) screening to customized referrals.

For example, if a client flags loneliness on a survey, the system can instantly trigger a referral to a friendly caller program or an electronic pet provider. It can also notify staff, update records, and track outcomes—all without adding hours to anyone’s day.

What used to take a team now takes a tap. That’s the magic of building smart workflows that don’t just scale programs—they strengthen them.

Technology with a Human Pulse

As the webinar wrapped up, one thing was clear: Blooming Health isn’t just a messaging tool. It’s a bridge.

For programs like Liberty Meals on Wheels—and the many others navigating change—this isn’t about doing more with less. It’s about doing more with purpose.

Curious about how Blooming Health can support your social care program? Contact us today.