Volunteers pitch in to deliver meals at Twin Valley Senior Center
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Volunteer meal delivery driver Shirley Boardman shows a hot meal made at the Twin Valley Senior Center to Perley Goslant, right, and his dad, Daryl, at their home in Marshfield. The senior center has just begun cooking its own meals for delivery to seniors, rather than delivering meals prepared by NECI. Stefan Hard/Times Argus |
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By SARAH HINCKLEY Times Argus Staff - Published: April 14, 2009
MONTPELIER – Volunteer chef Roger Huntington got to the Twin Valley Senior Center in Marshfield at 5 a.m. recently to cook up a new operation.
While Huntington and a handful of volunteers warmed up food for some of the 23 meals to be delivered, another group filled bags and portable coolers in the dining area. It was the first day the senior center was delivering Meals on Wheels with food prepared at the center by volunteers.
The new operation was possible because of the vision of Rita Copeland, who took over as director of the center in December, and about $2,000 in grant money.
"It's a big undertaking for us," said Joyce Fowler, of Marshfield, chairwoman of the center's board of directors. "This is the third week we've been starting up, getting frozen meals in the freezer… With NECI we didn't know what was going into the food. Now we know – like salt."
The center serves seniors in Cabot, Calais, Plainfield, Marshfield, Woodbury and East Montpelier.
Meals on Wheels for members of the six communities served by the senior center have been prepared until now by students at the New England Culinary Institute. Because several, if not most, of the seniors receiving meals have health conditions, the NECI meals may not have met their nutrition guidelines, Fowler pointed out.
By preparing the meals in-house, Huntington and the other volunteers can better oversee what the seniors get and need.
"You have to be very conscious of what goes into these meals," said Huntington, of Marshfield, who was a chef at the Stowe's Topnotch Resort and Spa 30 years ago. "You have to consider their vitamins, their proteins, their grains."
His commute to work is by foot and since he began at the center in December, Huntington has had to increase production.
"I cook in quantity… Thirty used to be my large number when I started," he said. "Now I cook for 50, three days a week and I'll probably be bumping that up another 10."
Even though it was at least an hour before lunch would be served at the center, volunteers in the kitchen had already put out one meal and were preparing for the midday crowd.
"I volunteer because I think it's a great program," said Kass Phillips, of Marshfield, who was stuffing meals into bags for transport. "I know some of the people. It's good to see our neighbors getting taken care of."
Volunteer drivers agree to maneuver the muddy back roads to reach recipients of the Meals on Wheels.
"We've got 89 meals to deliver this week," said Copeland, surrounded by a giddy group of women. "It's our first day, so they're excited. We feel so good about the meals (recipients) are getting."
Some seniors sign up for delivery on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which are the three days meals are served at the center, as well. Others sign up to get one delivery with a fresh meal, and frozen ones for the rest of the week. Still others choose to receive meals at home until they are better able to come back to the center and socialize.
"Some of these (seniors) come to our meals here Monday, Wednesday and Friday rather than eat at home alone," said Fowler. "It's really grown since Rita came on board in December. She's just getting our name out there and that's why we're growing. We can see with cooking our meals here we're going to grow another leap. We're looking for a new place, we've outgrown this one."
There were two people from the Central Vermont Council on Aging at the kick-off delivery April 6, Central Vermont Council on Aging received $10,000 from a Meals on Wheels Association of America Walmart Foundation Cure Grant. It will be dispersed among a couple of central Vermont senior centers, with $2,100 to Twin Valley for start up costs and mileage reimbursement for the volunteer delivery drivers.
"Most of the other sites that we work with have been doing congregate meals on site, as well as delivering Meals on Wheels," said Susan Russell, the director of community services for Central Vermont Community Action. " We provide every meal site $3.34 for every eligible meal. When you think about it, $3.34 is a drop in the bucket. A meal costs anywhere from $5 to $7."
Marcia Penley likes to volunteer at the center because she is intimately familiar with some of the clientele – those at home and at the center.
"I'm semi-retired and I know most of the people who come here," she said of people she has visited as a home health nurse. "It's a good connector for my work. I can follow them more (and) when they're healthy they come here to eat."
Contact Sarah Hinckley at sarah.hinckley@timesargus.com.
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To find out more about the Twin Valley Senior Center Meals On Wheels Program, call Rita Copeland at 426-3447 or email her at RitaCCope@myfairpoint.net.
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