Are your parents eating their veggies? Are they eating at all?
Homebound seniors often are unable to meet basic nutritional needs due to lack of transportation or finances or physical or mental limitations. To some, preparing a single meal — let alone three — is a daunting task. If you aren’t able to personally don a chef’s hat for Mom and Dad, an area nonprofit is striving to end senior starvation.
More than 2,500 Meals on Wheels (MOW) volunteers in 13 distribution centers feed Central Virginia’s hungry. But not with pop-top meals. Mashed potatoes are made the old-fashioned way; you won’t find instant flakes in the MOW kitchen — just an industrial-size peeler.
If eligible, your parents will receive up to three meals a day and can choose from 12 variations of diet (diabetic, renal, bland, etc.). Weekend boxes see them through to Monday.
On-staff registered dietitians provide expertise on menu planning and analysis to ensure that all meals meet Virginia Department for the Aging regulations. Dietitians engage in one-on-one nutrition counseling, often meeting with a client’s physician or family member to determine diet. If a client needs to gain weight, for example, nutritional supplements, such as Ensure or Boost, are included in meal packages at no additional cost.
“The goal is to get the food right for our clients so they can experience the comfort and enjoyment of eating,” says Kristin VanStory, director of communications for FeedMore, the umbrella organization for Meals on Wheels and the Central Virginia Foodbank (for more information on FeedMore, see sidebar). “Clients will call in and say they liked or didn’t like something, and we’ll take that into consideration.”
MORE THAN A MEAL
“Delivering is a pleasure,” says 94-year-old Louise Tramontin (although she prefers to tell you her age in years per leg), a volunteer since MOW began in 1967 as a simple “neighbor helping neighbor” operation on Main Street. More than four decades later, MOW’s service ideal hasn’t changed.
Volunteers are personally invested in the lives of those they deliver food to. They check in and catch up. They ask, “How are you feeling?” They retrieve items from high cabinets. They give hugs. “Delivering food is a beautiful experience,” Tramontin says. “You have to love them all, no matter who they are.”
“Our clients are recognized as people,” says VanStory. Birthdays are celebrated, as are special anniversaries. In June, fathers will receive small gifts. Even Fido and Fluffy are not overlooked. Monthly supplies of dog or cat food are brought to clients who need assistance feeding their pets.
“Sometimes [a volunteer] is the only person they see all day,” she says. In the case that a client doesn’t answer his or her door, emergency contact numbers are called. Volunteers have even found clients who have fallen. “Families have told me, ‘I don’t know what the situation would’ve been,’” she says.
If you have a loved one you think may benefit from Meals on Wheels, an application can be found at www.mowdelivers.com. Anyone homebound is potentially eligible.
Briana Easter is the editorial assistant for Boomer.
FEEDMORE
Meals on Wheels and the Central Virginia Foodbank merged in 2008 to create the umbrella organization FeedMore. Although the two nonprofits feed populations at opposite ends of the social spectrum, the organizations came together in 2005 to build a joint kitchen, saving the community more than $7 million.
“Our ultimate goal is to provide home-delivered meals to everyone who needs it, without a waiting list for service,” says FeedMore’s executive vice president Richard Schultz, who hopes to expand MOW’s continuum of care. A phased extension of services to seniors is planned for Louisa, Prince George and Dinwiddie counties, set to begin in July.
HUNGER DOESN’T TAKE A VACATION
Before you travel this summer, don’t forget to donate food to the Central Virginia Foodbank or set up a neighborhood food drive. For more information, log on to www.cvfb.org and click on “How You Can Help.”
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