“It’s a wonderful service, and the meal is not the key point of it,” says Bill Wright, volunteer coordinator of the Medway route of Tri-Valley, Inc.’s Meals on Wheels program, which is currently in need of volunteer drivers. Tri-Valley’s local Meals on Wheels program operates out of the basement of the Franklin Federated Church, with volunteers overseen by Laura Newton. In addition to Wright’s Medway route, the location coordinates meals for another Medway route, three Franklin routes and two Bellingham routes.
When Wright moved to Massachusetts from Illinois 25 years ago, he was looking for a way to give back to the community. In his home state, he had watched and accompanied his mother when she delivered Meals on Wheels.
“It’s somebody to stop at their house, smile, say ‘how are you today?’ Just check in on somebody to say hello to somebody who’s not getting out of their house. To engage in a conversation with somebody, no matter who it may be, because it’s their lifeline to society.”
These meals, says Wright, are delivered to elders and people with disabilities who live in private homes or even in senior housing.
“For whatever medical reason, they’re not able to prepare their own meal every day.” Meals, at a minimal cost that is subsidized for those who need it, are delivered Monday through Friday, with extra frozen meals delivered on the weekday to those who need them for the weekend.
Wright says it’s an easy and rewarding volunteer job.
“It’s just one day a week, for two hours a day,” he says, from 10:30 a.m. to about 12:15. “I thoroughly enjoy seeing the smile on their face, chatting with them for a brief period of time, hearing about their kids, getting to know them,” he says. “Some people may get meals delivered to them for years. You get to know them.”
When his children were younger, Wright says, he would bring them along for Meals on Wheels delivery during school vacations.
“People getting the Meals on Wheels loved to see the kids,” says Wright. “It made it very special for them, and I believe it was teaching our kids the value of community service.” He recalls one woman giving his son a “great big hug and kiss.”
“Really we serve mostly homebound elders who really could use a little help with getting a mostly hot, midday meal a day,” says Newton. “Most of our clients have families to help them, but some really don’t have anybody else. So it’s not just a meal, it’s also a simple health check in. We make sure the client is home, and if they don’t answer, we follow up to make sure they’re okay.”
Newton says she always needs lots of volunteers.
“It’s volunteer – You’re not obligated to come in if something comes up,” she says, so backup volunteers are great to have. “My volunteers are really dedicated. For the kitchen we average four a day, so that’s 20-25 kitchen volunteers, and I probably have about 25 drivers.”
Tri-Valley is flexible with the hours the volunteers can give.
“Some do it as little as once a month, some twice a week, and some are only on backup,” says Newton, who is grateful to have Wright coordinating one of the Medway routes. “You need so many volunteers to make it work efficiently.”
If you would like to volunteer for the Medway Meals on Wheels route, or for any of the other local Meals on Wheels route in Medway, Franklin or Bellingham, contact Laura Newton at (508) 520-1422.
Learn more about Tri-Valley, Inc. at www.trivalleyinc.org.
Issue Date:
January, 2017
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