GIVE IT A TRY
By Shannon Palmer photos by Joel philippsen
olunteering WITH Meals Meals on Wheels. I’ve heard the catchy logo for years, and I always thought it sounded like a great program. However, I and many other people I know get so wrapped up in our busy lives that we can hardly find the time to offer our philanthropic services. Instead, we live with the guilty conscience that we should be doing more for our community. In light of the season of giving, I was asked to ride along with some volunteers for the Meals on Wheels program and report to our readers for another Give It a Try segment. Arriving at Keepsake Village for food pickup, there was a hustle and bustle of hot and cold meals, in large insulated bags, being loaded into back seats and trunks. I was paired with two faithful volunteers, Marge Steinmetz and Jeanne Snyder. These two women have been volunteering for about a year and a half and team up every Tuesday to run a route for the program, which Senior Center Services of Bartholomew County Page 30
operates. I hopped in the back seat of Steinmetz’s car and off we went. The first stop consisted of two deliveries, and each woman took a meal — one hot and one cold — and kindly delivered them to the client. Back to the car again and off to another neighborhood. As Snyder offered information on the next stop, and Steinmetz navigated around town, I was able to see how helpful this program is for those who receive these meals and how appreciative everyone was upon our arrival. Although there are regulars on the route, it is not uncommon to have new people added and for the route to be changed. “We will find them all,” Steinmetz says. “If it takes us hours, we will find them!” With a little backtracking due to a new address, we did find them all in a little over an hour. The experience was enlightenSHE m a g a z i n e • D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9