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Meals on Wheels -- Volunteers provide vital service to shut-ins
Walk into the kitchen at the Heritage Senior Center at 10:45 in the morning and stand back.
The crew, laughing and sharing tall tales, is busy assembling the 85 meals needed for this day's home delivered meals routes. There are at least eight routes a day.
Volunteer drivers arrive just as the hot food is placed in insulated containers, and along with a cooler containing fruits, desserts, milk, bread and a route list, the meals are quickly loaded.
Each route covers a specific area of McCook, and volunteers make quick work of the deliveries, stopping and chatting briefly with each client.
On a recent Thursday, I accompanied Laurie Rogers on a quick trip to the east side of McCook. There was no answer at the first stop, and the door was securely locked. We trotted around back to try the back door. No luck. Making note of the failed attempt, Laurie explained that all volunteers are required to report a "no contact" call to the director, Sue Chipman, upon their return to the senior center.
"It's important to make contact," she explained.
The second client was ready and waiting for the mushroom steak, mashed potatoes, broccoli, jello with fruit, bread and milk, and met Laurie at the gate.
While on another stop, we picked up an envelope that needed to come back to the Gazette and at another, set outgoing mail out on the mailbox.
Receiving no answer to repeated knocks at another door, Laurie, noting that the front door was open, entered, calling the client's name as we slowly entered the residence. The client was fine, just occupied in a back bedroom, sewing quilt pieces together.
The route took a little more than 30 minutes to complete, far from a record time, undoubtedly due to my presence. The welcome was the same at each stop, big grins and a "Come on in" the order of the day.
"It is so nice of them to do this," said one client, noting that it is a popular and well-used benefit in the community.
Laurie, who was filling in for a volunteer who was unable to deliver the route that day, has been delivering meals for about two months. She moved to McCook with her family in 1998 and also served several years ago as a home delivered meals volunteer.
"All you need is a bit of free time in the middle of the day," she explained. "It doesn't take long, and folks are always happy to see you coming."
Laurie operates her custom machine quilting business from her home.
Home delivered meals are nothing new to the area. The first "meals on wheels" were delivered in Philadelphia in 1954. That program was modeled on one that originated in England. In 1973 Congress passed the Older Americans Act and that legislation created a national network of senior citizen congregate meal sites. Today, nearly 20,000 federally funded and privately sponsored programs are in operation nationwide. The McCook program has been in place at Heritage Senior Center since 1991.
To qualify for the program, participants must be homebound, meaning that under normal circumstances they do not leave their home; the client must be at least 60 years of age, or have a spouse of at least 60 years of age; live within the city limits of McCook; and be unable to prepare meals due to limited physical or mental abilities. Meals are delivered between 11 a.m., and noon Monday through Friday, except for holidays.
They are supported by the Health and Human Services Program, Title XX, United States Department of Agriculture, West Central Nebraska Area Agency on Aging, private donations, United Way Funding and the City of McCook, so that the suggested donation can be kept at a minimum. The suggested donation is $2.50 per meal and monthly statements indicating the number of meals delivered each month are sent to clients.
According to Cleta Baumfalk, home delivered meals coordinator, volunteers are always needed for the program. There are currently 59 volunteers and one business involved with the program.
They are: Delores Abbey, Marilyn and Don Brandt, Don and Gwen Brooks, Mary Ann Collings, Marie Coffey, Sherry Cotton, Joan Dueland, Cecilia Ecker, Jean Elley, Gary and Dorothy Eckhardt, Betty Gull, Marilyn Hawkins, Dorothy Hauxwell, Paul and Imelda Hays, Jan and Bob Hein, Tracy Hixon, Arlene Lasneski, Velda Lambert, Mary Lebsack, Nora Lewis, Lyle and Mary Moskal, Roger and Wanda Miller, Nancy Mousel, Roger and Barb Musgrave, Dan Nothnagel, Mary Osterman, Patty Powell, Relph and Pat Priest, Laurie Rogers, Laraine Real, Jerry and Roberta Spilinek, Jim and Julia Thompson, Marlene Webster, Boz and Margaret Verraneault, Rosalie Weskamp and Bob and Mary Sue Wurster.
Substitute deliverers are Virginia Anderson, Marilyn Betts, Shirley Hunt, Lucille Jones, Sally Loescher, Bev and Bruce Swanson, Fran Broz, Beth Augustyn, Dennis Chipman and McCook National Bank. For more information on the program contact Cleta Baumfalk or Sue Chipman at 345-1760.