By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – On June 28, Meals on Wheels will celebrate its 35th anniversary.
This is a very exciting time for anyone who has ever been involved with the program, which delivers one hot and one cold meal a day to homebound individuals.
"When this started in the early '80s, we had 11 clients total – seven in Niles and four in Buchanan," Roberta Garcia said.
Today, Meals on Wheels caters to 50 clients a day. For some, this is a temporary situation due to illness or injury. For others, these meals are a big part of what keeps them in their own home.
"This isn't about us just delivering meals door-to-door. We also check on our clients to make sure everything is alright with them," Garcia said. "We have run into situations where we have found people who have been ill or injured and needed our help and we are happy to do that. I think it's very comforting to their families as well, since most of our clients have relatives out of town."
Garcia has been part of Meals on Wheels for 14 years, and said one of the best parts is being able to form relationships with the clients.
"It's really a joy to become friends with them. You get to know them, get to know about their families and I think they just enjoy having someone to talk to. The clients are so appreciative of what we do and it shows," Garcia continued. "I'll never forget one woman who didn't think I was going to show up to deliver her meals. The weather was bad, and as soon as I got there her face lit up. She told me she was having a bad day and didn't think I would come with the weather the way it was. It's little things like that make me realize how important this is."
Garcia admitted that Meals is in desperate need of volunteers, and people shouldn't worry about time or gas prices being an issue.
"You can volunteer one day a week, one day a month, whatever is convenient. I've heard the question 'are gas prices affecting your volunteer drivers?' and the answer is no. We are always in need of volunteers, and people come and go due to many different reasons," Garcia said.
Garcia talked about one volunteer driver, Ethel Charmichael, who has been helping Meals for some time now.
"She really enjoys what she does and she is in her 90s. Our volunteers are so dedicated, which is nice to see because they are not paid for what they do," Garcia continued. "We're just happy to help people. It's like a two-way-street. It makes us happy to be able to provide these meals and our clients are thankful that we can offer something like this to them."
Garcia said donations are always welcome, as Meals on Wheels works on nothing but contributions.
"We're not involved with the United Way or any government programs. It's just us, working with what we are given." That's why the program holds events like a Fun Drive in August, where people can drop off donations.
"Small or big, they all help," Garcia said.
Anyone wishing to volunteer may do so by calling Meals on Wheels at 687-1462.