Get Involved
Thank you for your interest in Meals on Wheels! We are glad you share our commitment to providing nutritious meals to people who are at high nutrition risk and who are significantly physically impaired. Many people get involved by either being a vital member of our volunteer driver team or by donating to provide meals to seniors in need. No matter which way you choose to get involved, you help people like Sally, a typical client. Read her story below.
Sally, a Typical Client
Sally relies on Meals on Wheels to provide one hot meal a day. At 75, she has problems getting around as well as she used to since she was diagnosed with diabetes. A retired secretary, she wished she had saved more for retirement so she wouldn’t have to watch every penny so closely. She doesn’t always have the money to buy the healthy foods needed to keep her diabetes in check. But it’s just as well; she doesn’t always feel like going to the trouble of shopping at the grocery store or cooking a meal. Some days just feeding herself or remembering to eat is a chore! Some months it’s a decision between eating right and buying her three or more medications.
Sally lives alone. Her two children are all grown up with kids of their own and can’t always come by to see her as often as she would like.
Sally sighs at the thought of her daily routine. It’s always the same old thing. She gets up by 9 am because she knows her meal will be there at 11:30 am. When it’s not there on time, she likes to call the office to check on the driver. It’s the least she can do. Frances always delivers the meal, comes in and sits a minute, and asks Sally if she needs help opening anything or cutting anything up. Frances knows Sally doesn’t like to drink milk out of a carton and she always gets a glass for Sally’s milk without Sally having to say anything.
“Too bad milk isn’t delivered in glass jars anymore,” Sally tells Frances as she pours the milk in Sally’s glass.
Frances smiles and says she doesn’t remember ever getting milk in jars. Sally begins to tell of the milkman stopping by her house when she was a child. Frances chuckles to herself. How many times has she gone through this exchange? Sally never seems to tire of the story so she lets her tell it one more time.
It’s time for Frances to go. She is only half way through her twenty stops. She asks Sally one more time if there is anything she can get her before she leaves. Today, Sally can’t think of anything. She begins eating and tells Frances to lock the door as she leaves. Sally can’t bear to walk Frances to the door. It’s so sad to see her friend go but she stays positive and begins counting the time until tomorrow when Frances comes again.
Sally eats and turns on the TV. She loved to read once upon a time but she can’t see like she used to so the boob tube, as her husband used to call it, will have to do. How she misses Harry! After her visitor and remembering Harry, the house seems so lonely. A human voice is somehow comforting even if it’s not in person. As she looks at the meal before her, she panics a little thinking about how she will get dinner. Maybe this meal will be enough she prays.
