The kitchen and social hall of the New Hope Presbyterian Church in North Huntingdon Township were hubs of activity one recent morning. As quickly as volunteers filled Meals on Wheels coolers, drivers carried them out to the parking lot.
Site coordinator Pat Simmers oversees the Monday-through-Friday meal preparation for a service area including all of North Huntingdon Township, Irwin and North Irwin, and parts of Hempfield and Penn townships. Clients pay $3 per day.
Simmers was a volunteer before assuming her paid position; a volunteer staff of 140, including some members of the board of directors, help prepare and deliver 112 daily meals.
"We have a large group," Simmers said. "Some of them only volunteer once a week; others would go every day if I asked them to."
Frances Nosich, 65, and Fallie Princeton, 62, are neighbors who have been driving and delivering meals once a week for several months.
"We figured we would do something worthwhile," said, Nosich, a retired nurse.
Princeton is a retired hairdresser.
The two deliver to about 17 residents.
"The first time we did it," Nosich said, "it was funny."
They had mapped out their route but were unable to locate one client's home.
"We finally had to call the guy," she said. "Luckily, someone was there with him and got us there."
One time, she said, she found herself delivering a meal to a former classmate from nursing school.
Several months ago, Simmer said, the board of directors decided to offer a gasoline subsidy for volunteers who drove more than once a month. Some accept it, Simmers said, but some refuse it.
Princeton, who usually drives, said the recent spike in gasoline prices won't affect her participation. The two are done in under two hours, and then they go out to lunch together.
The clients, Princeton said, are appreciative.
"It's very rewarding," she said.
Jean Dinco, 61, agreed. The retired teacher began helping to make deliveries about a year ago.
"I had time and I wanted to help in the community," she said. "It's a nice thing for me to do. The people really look forward to us coming."
Bill and Ruth Uhlig, 83 and 76, respectively, team up to drive and deliver meals several times a month. Ruth Uhlig has volunteered for more than 25 years, and her husband for about 15, taking the place of a friend who moved away. She's also a board member.
Volunteers and clients often grow close, she said. Unfortunately, visits can't last long.
"The next person says, 'Where have you been⢠You're late,'" Uhlig said, laughing.
Rising gas prices won't slow her down, either.
"I just feel like it's my contribution," she said. "It doesn't take that much."
Cecelia Perz, 75, said the recent spike gave her pause, but she plans to continue to drive for Meals on Wheels.
"I consider this part of my tithing," she said. "It's enjoyable. The people are a cut above. You do get attached to people."
She and her late husband, Joe, started delivering meals about 10 years ago.
"When we retired, we started comparing notes with friends and neighbors, asking 'What do we do now?'"
Several people suggested Meals on Wheels.
"This is where you meet all the other retired people," Perz said.
After her husband died, she put herself "on call" to drive.
"The calls come in at least once a week," she said.
Eleanor Quigley, 73, has driven and delivered for about eight years, usually several times a month. A retired teacher, she was looking for a volunteer opportunity.
"I'm blessed," she said. "I enjoy the friendship of the other drivers and deliverers. I feel it's a worthwhile service project."
Irma Fleming, 84, waits for the drivers to return and cleans the containers, usually one day a week.
She and her late husband, William, used to deliver meals.
"We both liked doing it," she said.
Smiling as several volunteer cooks divvied up zucchini bread she had baked for them, Fleming said, "It's good for me to get out."
Although Simmers considers herself lucky to have such a large roster of volunteers, additional help is always welcome.
This summer, she said, teenagers from area churches will help out with deliveries.
"We could use a few extra drivers," she said.
All hands welcome
"We are very, very fortunate," said Lynn Staab, coordinator of the Murrysville Meals on Wheels, "to have over 200 volunteers. My volunteers are very dedicated, caring and compassionate."
Most of them have been with the organization for 25 to 30 years, she said. The average commitment is a few hours once a month, although some volunteers give more time than others.
Murrysville, Norwin and Delmont Meals on Wheels all accept hardship cases and food stamps. Coordinators at each site said their communities' civics groups, local clubs and churches all help with donations, and they do little or no fundraising.
Staab oversees volunteers who prepare one hot meal and a bag supper (sandwich, juice, fruit, milk, bread, butter and dessert) Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Meals are prepared at the First Presbyterian Church, and delivered to the Murrysville, Export and Franklin Regional School District area, as well as to Valley Stream Apartments residents. Cost is $3 per day.
The agency averages 40-50 clients.
Staab said that because there are so many volunteers, rising gasoline prices have not led to any complaints from drivers.
Several area homeschooling families also deliver meals.
"We can always use volunteer drivers," she said. "I never turn down anyone."
She could use a volunteer to help out with correspondence, she said, including writing thank-you notes, and someone to look into the possibility of fundraising.
One volunteer she can always count on is Ruth Hill.
About 10 years ago, the widow noticed a request in a church bulletin for volunteers. She has been a head cook for about five years, and works every Tuesday morning.
"I usually do the entree, and then we make sure everything else is done," said Hill, 80. "I work with a wonderful group of women. We have a lot of fun. I've made a lot of friends."
Tuesday afternoons she volunteers at Redstone Highlands in Murrysville and Thursdays she volunteers at Friends Thrift Shop in Export.
"I don't sit very well, I guess," said Hill, who retired after 23 years as a district court secretary. "You have to have something to do, a reason to get up in the morning."
The gas prices won't slow her activities.
"I live in Murrysville," she said. "I could walk to Redstone."
She plans to continue volunteering.
"As long as I can, absolutely," she said.
In Delmont, Carol Hartman is helping to oversee the program for coordinator Mary Marshall, who is ill. Volunteers prepare meals Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Salem Lutheran Church, and serve residents of Delmont, Mamont area, Trees Mills and Hoffman Heights Road. Cost is $2 per day for a hot meal and bag lunch.
She was unsure how many volunteers the 30-year-old agency has, but she said six drivers and four or five kitchen workers handle each meal preparation and delivery.
Most volunteers work about once a week.
She said when the agency began, it served about 12 people. The average client base now is about 40.
"Maybe our hardest thing sometimes is with drivers," she said. "People get busy. One or two will say something about the gas prices."
But the routes are fairly short, Hartman said.
One trend she'd like to see increase is more businesses permitting employees to volunteer. Two staff members from a borough insurance agency currently deliver meals once a month on their lunch hour.
Many hands get job done
Karen Theis is the senior center services director in Westmoreland County. The county's 18 Meals On Wheels programs, she said, are all run as private nonprofits, independent of county jurisdiction.
Most are run by a board of directors and usually include no more than one paid staff member.
"Where we (Area Agency on Aging) fit in is we just deliver meals where there is not a Meals On Wheels program," she said.
The county has paid van drivers who deliver nearly 600 meals a day to residents outside a chapter's delivery area. Meals are provided by the community's closest senior center; there are 11 in Westmoreland County.
"Our program is their complementary Meals On Wheels program," Theis said. "We are attempting to get the whole county covered."
Theis said the individual programs couldn't survive without their volunteers. And many clients depend on the human contact involved in receiving their daily meals.
"That daily check from somebody, whatever program it is," Theis said, "is probably the most important thing about the program. For some, it's more valuable than the meal itself."
