Rachel was enjoying dessert with friends after Christmas caroling at a nursing home. The 31-year old mother of 4 was perfectly healthy; no one had any reason to think that night in December of 2007 would be different than any other. But it was. Rachel suddenly collapsed at the party. She was rushed via ambulance to a local hospital and, soon after, flown to a larger facility. She spent 3 weeks there recovering. She had experienced a sudden cardiac arrest.
As word got out about what had happened, the offers to help poured in from friends and members of the community. Phone calls and emails flooded the home of Rachel's dear friend, Adina Bailey. Many people wanted to bring dinner for Rachel's husband, young children, and in-laws who were helping. As the inquiries continued to come, Adina felt overwhelmed with coordinating everything. She knew there had to be a better way to organize all that people were offering to do but she couldn't find anything. Adina had a tech-savvy friend who she knew could help. She called Scott Rogers and on January 12, 2008, TakeThemAMeal.com was born.
Adina Bailey and Scott Rogers
Rachel returned home and, thankfully, after a few months, no longer needed meals. Once her meal schedule was finished, however, Adina and Scott realized that meal scheduling was not just needed when there was a sudden tragedy. There are many uses and needs for an online scheduling tool- when babies are born, after a death, when friends are receiving medical treatments, and many more. Before they knew it, word was spreading. People who used the site once to take someone a meal appreciated how easy it was to use and would often use it later to coordinate a meal schedule.
