BILLINGS MEALS ON WHEELS

MOW Coordinator: Jaime • MOW Assistant: Stacy • 1505 Avenue D • 406-259-9666

Adult Resource Alliance’s Meals on Wheels Program (MOW) offers a hot nutritious meal to those over 60 years of age who are homebound. They are delivered by volunteers, Monday through Friday between 10:00 and 12:30. Meals are available on a short-term basis for persons recovering from a hospital stay or surgery until the person is no longer homebound. If a person is able to prepare their own meals or lives with someone who can prepare their meals you may be denied.

Friends Make the Good Times Better AND THE HARD TIMES EASIER

By Jackie Swiesz

This past year, when Ken P. found himself needing to ratchet back his rigorous MOW delivery schedule due to unexpected health challenges, a handful of fellow MOW buddies rallied around to help out their friend. As part of the “old guard” of drivers who have delivered 245+ meals per day for over 15 years, this crew of men paid it forward to one of their own.

Here was a bunch of tough guys who had previous lives working in the last frontier (Alaska) or on oil rigs or pipeline projects, or teaching school in an impoverished community. All of them are over 80 years young, one man is missing an arm, another copes with a permanently smashed hand. But, you will not hear them complain about their mishaps – “We have no reason to sit around.” they said. “There is work to do and we just suit up and do it.”

They have thick skin and don’t take guff from anyone. Yet, here they were each day after deliveries, gathering at their “special” table in the ARA dining room to break bread and shoot the breeze. Naïve passersby did not escape their teasing. The delivery crew boasted that there was “no cover charge” to eavesdrop on their (sometimes) raucous conversations.

But there was always laughter and a blanket of fellowship that brought them and any onlookers together.

Suddenly last summer, Ken P. found himself on the receiving end of the

MOW deliveries as he tried to recuperate from major health issues. And, in addition to the much-needed meals, somehow one of his co-workers got wind of his need to have a ramp built at his house to assist him. To this day, he isn’t quite sure how she found out about it, but Ken gratefully accepted the help when his dear coworker asked him if it was okay for an ARA crew to come help. Ken confided that, “It’s nearly impossible to be the one asking for help when you’ve been the one helping others for so long.”

On the day that Ken’s general contractor was due to start construction of the ramp, three MOW drivers appeared. There was Bill B. and Roger O. and Jim S. with tools in hand and ready to work. Ken gladly accepted the extra help, and the ramp was built in one day!

Some people will take the credit for the efforts of the team and not give credit where credit is due. But this was not the case with these men who had worked side by side for over a decade. Not only was the ramp sturdy and well built, but the camaraderie and fellowship shared among all of them was priceless.

When we are overwhelmed with the daunting thought of “I can’t do this alone,” that is when our true friends appear to shore us up, and we rally to that looming giant of a task. Because it’s “divide and conquer,” the strength of the group triumphs over the goliath. Although Ken cannot deliver the daily meals anymore, his spirit of giving and compassion for others continues in the shape of his delivery brothers and sisters - who carry on with a love for the people they serve. When asked, “Where’s Ken – he’s the one that brings me my dinner, who sits at the table with me and talks with me. I miss him,” his MOW friends (really, they are family!) tactfully respond and sit down for a conversation and companionship with the senior who may not see anyone else for days at a time. That is the bond, the glue, the connection with our other human travelers that we all long for.