Meals on Wheels volunteers are staying home because of covid-19. College kids are filling the gap.

Each Monday morning at 10:30, Ann and Bill Walker start their routine: They climb into their Ford SUV, pick up insulated bags of hot meals and deliver them to a half-dozen elderly homebound people around their New Jersey community.

It’s been this way for eight years for the Walkers — he’s 85 and she’s 83 — dedicated volunteers for Meals on Wheels in Mercer County. Now on Mondays, their SUV stays in the driveway as they are homebound themselves, taking coronavirus precautions like most Americans.