INDIANAPOLIS — If someone experiences a life event like a new baby or a family death, you may want to help out with a meal or a visit.
But sometimes, all of the planning gets put on one person.
That is why there are websites and tools to help out the helping hands.
Hannah Matuke's family and friends are using the site Meal Train to coordinate dinners for her and her husband three times a week. The support comes after the birth of their son.
"It's been a huge blessing just not having to worry about cooking dinner all the time," Matuke said.
Meal Train, who helped 13News facilitate this interview, is a free platform that aims to ease the pain that can come along with coordinating group efforts. However, if you use Meal Train's donation feature, the site will charge you a fee. The site says its helped coordinate 69 million meals.
Participants fill in what meal they are bringing to the recipient or can send along a gift card if they live out of town.
"It [the site] shows food allergies, how many people it's for, drop off time," Matuke said as she showed her phone screen.
On this night, Mediterranean is on the menu thanks to Hannah's friend, Amanda Buck.
"It's really gratifying to know that I'm helping, and I specifically love baking and cooking and to be able to provide yummy food for someone is a really nice feeling," Buck said.
Kimberly Palmer with NerdWallet said there are other web sites and tools that can help coordinate signups, too.
"SignUpGenius is something that's really often used in schools, but it can also be used in situations like this where you are encouraging people to sign up to provide meals for a family and it's very organized. It gives you reminders it's free to use," Palmer said.
If you prefer to DIY the sign up sheet, there is also Google Docs.
"It doesn't give the automatic reminders to the people who sign up, but it's an easy way to stay organized," Palmer said. That way the helpers are getting some help, too.