People of the Year: Meals on Wheels brings healthy meals to those in need
By Julianne Mosher
While helping to feed Long Islanders, two local Meals on Wheels groups are also the eyes, ears and friends of those in need of assistance.
Comprised of 5,000 community-based programs, Meals on Wheels is a national network that is dedicated to addressing senior hunger and isolation.
Smithtown
The Smithtown Meals on Wheels program, located within the Senior Center in the Smithtown township, provides a daily hot meal delivered directly to the homes of residents age 60 and over.
According to Tina Pfennig, supervising community service aide with the Senior Center’s Meal on Wheels program, more than 40 volunteers help deliver hot meals to 90 clients weekly. Every day, volunteers will pick up the food, donated by a local Lake Grove deli, and deliver to the client’s home. Each entrée comes with milk, juice, fruit, bread and sometimes dessert.
“We have some people who have been with the program long-term and some occasionally come on for a short period,” she added.
This year, the group celebrated its 45th anniversary.
But Pfennig said that the program would not run if it weren’t for the people who help out every morning and afternoon.
“Annually, we have a volunteer appreciation luncheon to show how much we appreciate them,” Pfennig said.
She said that out of the roughly 40 volunteers, a few have been with the group for more than 20 years. Some have been volunteering for 10 years and others 15. They’re still receiving applications for new drivers to come on board.
“Thankfully people are always applying and we’re very grateful,” she said. “Without them, we wouldn’t have a program.”
Kim Cunningham, senior neighborhood aide, said that while the main role of the Meals on Wheels volunteers is to drive the food to each client’s house, they’re also looking out for them.
“If a client isn’t feeling well or there are other concerns, we make sure we follow through with their emergency contact,” Cunningham said. “They’ll have conversations with them and often become their friends.”
Along with the drivers, Cunningham and Pfennig noted that other volunteers who make this program possible are the kitchen staff who help package the food to give to the drivers.
Like an assembly line, the tasks are “done efficiently, organized and in a timely fashion.”
Pfennig added that some former volunteers have now become clients, themselves.
“We’re returning the favor and making sure they get healthy food, too,” she said.
Three Village
While not directly affiliated with the national brand of Meals on Wheels, the Three Village organization is similar in that it provides healthy food to people of any age as long as they’re homebound due to medical concerns.
According to their website, clients are the elderly or disabled who, due to immobility and isolation, are unable to prepare their own meals and referrals are made by doctors, social service agencies, hospitals, neighbors, family members or the clients themselves.
Ruth Spear, office manager of the Three Village Meals on Wheels, said that they charge $7.50 a day for two meals, one hot and one cold. If a client has concerns about payment, they can apply for a subsidy and that’s funded by a big fundraiser and donations throughout the year.
Similar to other Meals on Wheels programs, food is prepared at Mather Hospital and St. Charles in Port Jefferson. Then, 130 volunteers pick up the meals and deliver to clients all over Northern Brookhaven — Stony Brook, Setauket, Port Jefferson, Port Jefferson Station, Miller Place, Mount Sinai, northern parts of Coram and Selden. In 2023, 28,000 meals were delivered.
“We are so appreciative of the staff at St. Charles and Mather because if it weren’t for them, we’d have to figure something else out,” Spear said.
Each driver also creates that friendship with the client and acts as the eyes and ears of family who can’t be there to check in on their loved ones.
“If the driver gets to the door and a client doesn’t pick up the phone or answer, we’re going to call the emergency contact,” she said. “There are so many people who don’t see one human being all day or all week, so our drivers are the only people they’re seeing and being lonely is a terrible thing.”
Spear said that the beauty of the organization is that friendships are formed and people often become attached to one another.
“That’s what I’m most proud of … The drivers really care about the clients,” she said. “If everyone can just help people in the community just a little bit, it can go a long way. It’s so gratifying and it’s a great feeling.”
For their volunteerism and dedication, all the volunteers of the local Meals on Wheels groups have been named TBR News Media 2024 People of the Year.
