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By NATHAN HOWELL | Special to the Reporter 

ALABASTER –  After being awarded a grant through State Farm’s Neighborhood of Good program, local food delivery service KATs Delivery plans to provide free meals for approximately 60 seniors.

KATs’ owner Maurice Mercer partnered with State Farm’s Brittani Morris after receiving the grant to pay it forward and find ways to help and support the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My suggestion to her was to focus on seniors with this grant. A lot of times seniors who used to go to senior centers are now forced to recluse in their homes for their own safety,” Mercer said. “Having a free meal delivered to them by a smiling face lets them know the we care about them.”

Mercer said the company put out a call to action to find 30 households that could benefit from a free meal. The households will each receive two meals, so married couples will have one each or single or widowed seniors will have an extra meal.

The company will spend time over the weekend dropping these meals off in Alabaster, Calera, Montevallo and Pelham. The timing is also important because the deliveries will happen during National Senior Day on Aug. 21 and the following days.

Some of the meals will come from Bertolone’s Italian Restaurant, who Mercer said offered a special deal to make the deliveries happen.

“KATs is about to be six years old. Part of the original concept of the company was to help seniors and veterans,” Mercer said. “Being able to fulfill that first part of our concept is very fulfilling. My mother fell in that high risk category. That’s why I’m personally excited to be able to deliver to those who are the most vulnerable.”

There are plans in the work to do a second round of deliveries later in the year. Mercer said he would make another announcement for people to submit those who need meals at that time.