Washington’s Meals on Wheels program in the red (Dec. 22)
By: Lauren Burgoon
Editor’s note: The full names of Meals on Wheels clients are withheld in accordance with the program’s privacy policy.
WASHINGTON Five days a week, two volunteers leave the senior center laden with hot, nutritious meals. Looping their way through township streets, the packages are delivered one by one to Washington’s most frail and vulnerable residents. It will be the only hot meal some get all day.
But Washington’s Meals on Wheels program, which serves 20 elderly or ailing residents, is teetering on the brink. The program is deeply in the red about $5,000 in deficit for a $20,000 annual budget and in desperate need of a financial boost to keep serving clients and expand its capabilities to meet a growing need.
Funding is not the only thing sought. Meals on Wheels needs more of everything. More room to prepare meals, more volunteers to make the weekday runs, more recognition in the community. But mostly, it needs more money.
"Knock, knock! It’s Sandy, I have your meal."
Sandy DeLorenzo’s cheerful voice calls out into clients’ homes, knocking on doors left partially ajar by clients awaiting their mid-day meal. Most clients cannot easily come to the door themselves, so Ms. DeLorenzo lets herself in. Today she brings packages of baked ziti, tossed salad, spinach, bread, juice and ice cream to her clients.
"I’ve got some macaroni for you today," she tells one smiling client on Route A, which covers 10 clients mostly in Foxmoor and takes about an hour to complete. A second Washington route winds through the mobile park, Windsor and other back roads.
Ms. DeLorenzo has an affable, easy-going relationship with meal recipients and remembers personal details about each who has been recently hospitalized, whose children or grandchildren have visited recently and who needs errands run for them. She is the volunteer executive director of Washington’s Meals on Wheels, but has a close relationship with clients because she sees them so often. A scarcity of volunteers means she goes out on runs three or even four times a week.
If there were ever a living definition for labor of love, Meals on Wheels would be it. The program is run entirely by volunteers who take time out to deliver the food and spend a few minutes with clients.
It’s rewarding to know the work is helping others, volunteer and Treasurer Fred Elgrim said, but the emotional side can take its toll.
"The clients are so appreciative and you get to know them pretty well," said Mr. Elgrim, who has volunteered for six years. "It’s sad though, in a way. Some clients pass on or get hospitalized a lot. Some get sent to nursing homes."
But it’s the clients who depend on the daily meal that keep the volunteers hard at work. Ms. DeLorenzo knows about that firsthand. She came looking for a volunteer opportunity at the senior center after her father, who has since passed away, spent many hours there. She wanted to give something back, perhaps work for a few hours a week for the organization that meant so much to him.
What she found was a much bigger responsibility. Ms. DeLorenzo’s arrival in July coincided with the former Meals on Wheels director’s departure. She took over operations willingly, knowing from previous volunteerism in Hamilton’s program how much Meals on Wheels can help the homebound and knowing she would benefit from the job too.
"These clients have so much to give and so much knowledge, but they’re so stinking forgotten," she said. "I love getting to know them. We’re creating a mini-family."
A very varied family at that. There is no norm when it comes to Meals on Wheels clients. They range from a 95-year-old man bent with age and heart disease to a 55-year-old multiple sclerosis patient whose progressive disease prevents her from cooking.
Some live alone and have the usual problems that come with aging. Others have recently been hospitalized and need temporary assistance. Still others are desperately ill with terminal cancer or have Alzheimer’s disease.
Jane, 94, receives most of her meals in the winter, when Meals on Wheels is most in demand. She travels to the senior center during good weather, but this winter’s abnormal cold and early snow has kept her indoors.
"When they bring the food, it’s wonderful. They always have a smile on," she said of the drivers. "It’s wonderful to see them and get the food."
Other clients are not able to leave the house at all. One stop includes a man with cancer who can barely eat anymore. His wife has Alzheimer’s disease and cannot cook anymore. The daily meal provided by the program means the couple has worry about one less meal.
Another client volunteered for Meals on Wheels for five years before a fall kept her in bed for months. As her strength returns, Marie, 80, is slowly weaning off the program. But for now, "I enjoy the fact that I don’t have to think about one meal a day," she said. "There’s a lot of need for this in Washington."
Precise timing is necessary to pull off the daily meal deliveries. Meals on Wheels, which began 10 years ago in Washington, runs out of the senior center. The food comes in from Aramark and is the same menu served as the senior center’s luncheon. Workers individually package the meals and set up the cooling and warming containers for drivers.
The food is prepped before the senior center meals, meaning any delay will not only cause late deliveries but keeps the senior center’s diners waiting for lunch. It’s a dance the workers and volunteers have perfected but would be easier with more funds and more space.
Limited space keeps the program enrollment frozen at 20. Ms. DeLorenzo personally interviews all interested people and tries to keep the most serious cases on the roster.
"Just wanting a meal or being elderly isn’t enough. There has to be some physical disability or problem that prevents you from cooking," she explained.
The selective process has worked in the sense that there is no waiting list for serious cases. On the other hand, she knows there is greater need in Washington for the service and that a waiting list could materialize soon.
"The baby boomers are getting older and the demand is always increasing. We just need more space," Ms. DeLorenzo said.
The problem with expanding the service is tied directly to funding. There is simply no money in the budget for expansion when every dollar goes toward food purchase.
Meals on Wheels is run solely on donations and client fees. It costs the program $3.70 for each meal. Until recently, the program charged clients $1 per meal, though Ms. DeLorenzo raised the price to $2 to help offset costs. The fee alone cannot cover the costs and some clients cannot even afford the higher price.
"One dollar just wasn’t cutting it, but we have a couple of people who just cannot pay $2. I kept the price at $1 for them," Ms. DeLorenzo said.
Donations help but are scant. The program averages $50 $60 in donations a month; some months no money comes in. Yet somehow, Ms. DeLorenzo said, when a bill comes due, a check for $20 or more will come in and the program survives another month. The big worry is when this string of luck dries up and Meals on Wheels has to scale back deliveries or stop altogether.
Program volunteers are working with town officials to prevent this. They researched some sort of subsidization from the county, but found the program is not eligible. Instead, Council President Sonja Walter is researching grant opportunities, especially from the national Meals on Wheels organization, but they are limited, she said.
The only solution might be from a reliable stream of private donations. Ms. DeLorenzo said the program’s limited budget is put solely toward food, leaving no money for outreach. She hopes a plan by Mayor Dave Fried for a January push for donations from local businesses will work. He is also looking to find a dedicated funding source.
"We don’t want to have to scale back. I have faith. Our residents always come through when there’s a need," he said.
Until funding, bigger space and more volunteers are a reality, Ms. DeLorenzo is left only to dream about the kind of service Meals on Wheels could be with no obstacles in the way of growth. She pictures a long list of volunteers, enough so each would only have to commit to one run each week. She pictures a large kitchen with plenty of room to assemble meals. And she pictures plenty of clientele.
"I want it so anyone who calls Washington Township needing services can be accommodated and so we can serve every single person who needs a meal," she said. "I don’t want to see anyone go hungry, especially our seniors."
To donate, volunteer or learn more about Meals on Wheels, write to Sandra DeLorenzo at P.O. Box 8264, Trenton, NJ 08650-9616 or call (609) 259-7355.