On a recent rainy Monday morning I rode with Tom Daisel, who in addition to being a Meals on Wheels Volunteer, is a Tech graduate, a veteran (retired Full Col. In the Marines), an athlete who after college was drafted by the Chicago Bears, and a credentialed civil engineer. Tom is a “fill-in” which means he covers the routes orphaned when other volunteers have a schedule problem.
On that first day, we delivered hot meals to 24 individuals. I rode a different route the following Tuesday and met 11 more participants in the program.
Long before we arrived to deliver the meals, people at the “Canteen” were busy cooking and packing the meals for all the sites that would be distributed in the various neighborhoods. The canteen prepares more than 600 meals a day.
To begin the distribution we pulled into Rosalind Hills Baptist Church where the MOW SW site office was located to pick up our route for the day. We had one container for hot foods and another for the cold foods. Would they work?
My other concerns involved the food itself. Would there be enough of it? Would it taste good? Would it be nutritionally balanced, not just filling? Far too many people in America are “full” with empty calories that keep them fat, but not healthy. As to taste—everyone I surveyed said the food tasted great.
Curtis, a thirty something, wheelchair bound, smiled when he volunteered that “hamburger day” was the best day of the month. Phyllis (85) said although she had worked all her life, the money she had saved for this season of her life had run out and she didn’t know how she would make it from month to month without the extra meal provided. Cricket, who was no bigger than her name implied, said the portions were a good size and that often what she didn’t eat for lunch she would have for dinner. All the other participants I interviewed had no difficulty consuming every morsel on the spot.
Karen said she joined the program after a fall on the ice where she broke her leg in several places. That accident, along with her arthritis, meant she could no longer stand to cook or do dishes or drive. She was very grateful for all the help she got in rehab, but following rehab she wanted to go back home where she would be surrounded by her own things and where her little dog Nina would be waiting. “Meals on Wheels has allowed me to maintain a level of independence,” she explained.
Just as important as the meal being delivered, are the consistent and welcomed social interactions. Some of the volunteers bring their children or grandchildren along with them, which is a great hit with the participants. These brief daily visits with people on the “outside” are sometimes the only connection the participant has with the community during the day. Since different volunteers cover the routes on different days, each participant gets to meet three to five people a week.
People in the Meals on Wheels Program are hungry for more than food.
I noted that many of the people seemed eager to talk and shake hands and sometimes a hug as they shared news since the last visit. These were people who were looking forward to human contact almost as much as the food itself.
Perhaps of equal importance was the unobtrusive wellness checks done by the Meals on Wheels volunteers each day. I noticed the volunteer asking questions if anything seemed amiss. He looked around to see the condition of the house. Was the space properly heated or cooled? Were there unknown people in the dwelling? Was the participant in better or worse condition physical or mentally since the last visit?
So who were the people I met? What kind of person participates in the Meals on Wheels program?
I met both men and women. Some were black, others were white and some were brown. Some lived in spacious housing and others in spaces that seemed very small. Some were neat and others were not. Many had once been part of working America before the stroke, or the amputation or age had made it too hard to fend for themselves without a little help. Many of them were in wheelchairs, on walkers or confined to bed most of the day. Most were elderly.
There were two common characteristics they all shared. They all wanted to stay in their own homes (there really is no place like home) and they all were grateful. The people I met have become my heroes. Their resilience in the face of their present hardships was inspiring.
The worth of a society is determined not only by the GNP, the size of the military, the number of college grads or how many thousands of widgets we manufacture. The real worth of a society is determined by how we treat the most vulnerable: the youngest, the oldest, the weakest and the sickest and the one who has fallen.
Joy Sylvester Johnson
Help us to continue the daily meal delivery so NO SENIOR GOES HUNGRY. Support Meals on Wheels by attending “LET’S DO LUNCH!” at the Kazim Temple Ballroom on Friday, June 16 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. 628 Campbell Ave., SW, Roanoke Tickets are $15 – your $15 pays for YOUR lunch plus lunch for TWO seniors in need. Buy ONE, Give TWO! FREE Delivery and Curbside Pickup also available. Entertainment by Jane Powell with William Penn and Friends at the Kazim. Order your tickets online today http://nonprofitroanoke.org/event/lets-do-lunch/ or call 540-345-0541 or make a donation!