SPECIAL DELIVERY
Meals on Wheels volunteers establish tight bonds with people on their routes
BY DIANE GILES dgiles@kenoshanews.com
When the wind blows cold, there’s nothing better than a hot meal to chase away the blues. Just ask the 240 clients of the Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services Inc.’s Meals on Wheels and More program. The home delivered meals are vital for those senior citizens and disabled residents who need them. But this winter has been particularly challenging to the volunteers who make the deliveries. Irv Schultz, 81, lives in his home on 50 acres in Somers. His driveway is about one-fifth-of-a-mile long and starts with a fairly steep incline in a stand of trees. The trek requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle to conquer its path in bad winter weather. Schultz is into his second week of receiving Meals on Wheels and is in awe of the volunteers who bring him the hot food. He spoke of driver Linda Hartung, a retired teacher who drives Schultz’s route each Monday. Because of snow that drifted in his driveway over the weekend, Hartung couldn’t get any closer to the house than Highway A. So last week she walked through the drifts to deliver Schultz’s food. “For me, she’s fantastic. I mean the snow was this deep,” Schultz said in amazement, holding out his hand about thigh high. “You know, I owned my own business for many years, and whenever you find someone who goes to that kind of extra effort, it’s special ... and usually they want another $10,000. And these people are volunteers, they aren’t getting paid.”
Gail Brown, city volunteer coordinator for the Meals on Wheels program for the Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services Inc. is well aware of the dedication of her volunteer delivery force.
“I’m amazed every day with all our volunteers. Without them we wouldn’t be able to do it,” Brown said. “They are so dedicated and sincere. They really want to help people, and they know their clients need the food.”
Currently, every weekday there are 30 drivers from a bank of about 110 volunteers in the program who are on the roads between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. delivering hot lunches and cold suppers to 240 clients throughout Kenosha County.
Each route averages about 10 clients. Some drivers are locked into a route on certain days of the week or month, while others serve as substitute drivers.
Predictably, the blizzard on Feb. 6 was particularly challenging for the drivers. It had been decided by program administrators on that day to call the clients living west of Interstate-94 and tell them not to expect meal deliveries.
The city delivery drivers went on as usual, but it was a trying day for all. Drivers tried their best to complete their routes in the white-out conditions.
Only three drivers regretfully called to say they couldn’t drive their assigned routes. Lauren Zielsdorf, Meals on Wheels program director, said those three routes were handled by the substitute drivers.
Not bad, Zielsdorf said, considering the program has a couple cases of 70- and 80-yearold drivers delivering to 40- and 50-year-old clients. “We get calls from clients that are very worried about the volunteers in bad weather. They say ‘Please don’t deliver, we worry about their safety,’” Zielsdorf said. Program leaders let drivers make judgment calls on safety factors such as streets, driveways, walkways and stairs. “We were nervous Nellies all day at the office that Wednesday,” Zielsdorf said, adding that cell phones became extremely important on that day. Being able to deliver the meals in the worst weather has influenced at least one volunteer’s last vehicle purchase. Delivering the meals is an important factor in Betsy Anderson’s life, important enough that in the fall of 2006 she traded in her compact car for a four-wheel drive Jeep. A 10-year veteran delivery volunteer, Anderson, 49, insists she gets more out of her work with the program than her clients do.
“It keeps me grounded as far as what are real troubles in life,” she said. “We worry about the little things. They have a lot to worry about, and they’re just excited to get that little meal.”
Anderson said for many of her clients the companionship of the visits were more important than the food.
“A lot of our volunteers really develop a bond. For some clients, that’s the only person they see throughout the day sometimes,” Zielsdorf said.
To learn more about the Meals on Wheels program, call volunteer coordinator Dana Tehako-Esser at (262) 658-3508, ext. 120, or log on to www.kafasi.org and scroll to the Meals on Wheels link.
KENOSHA NEWS PHOTOS BY KEVIN POIRIER Meals on Wheels volunteer Betsy Anderson gives Betty Sengbush a rose for Valentine’s Day as she delivers meals to her mobile home. Often clients become like family to the volunteer drivers.
Meals on Wheels volunteer Betsy Anderson laughs after Doris and Richard Pofahl respond with a knock back after she tapped on their door. She is delivering meals to them, along with candy and roses — a Valentine’s Day treat.
NEWS PHOTOS BY KEVIN POIRIER Meals on Wheels volunteer Betsy Anderson checks the list of clients she is delivering meals to after loading the food into her car at the Parkside Baptist Church parking lot.
Meals on Wheels Volunteer Betsy Anderson picks up the meals that she will deliver to seniors in the area from a transport vehicle at Parkside Baptist Church.
