Meals on Wheels delivers more than food to Sussex residents

Richard Chambers loaded up his car with bags of food and hit the road.

Chambers has been a volunteer delivery driver for Meals on Wheels for two years. He is also a member of its board of directors.

The Cape Gazette rode with Chambers March 20, getting a firsthand experience during the nonprofit’s March for Meals campaign.

Chambers had 14 clients on his route in the Plantation Road area outside Lewes and Rehoboth Beach. Because it was Friday, Chambers carried extra meals and snack bags for the weekend.

“We deliver one hot meal and two meals that were frozen previously,” he said.

Chambers and the volunteers who deliver on the 18 other routes in the Lewes-Rehoboth area deliver more than food. Their mission is part meal delivery, part welfare check and part social interaction.

“We may be the only ones that come face to face with them,” Chambers said. “It’s good to sort of keep an eye on them so I can tell week-in and week-out if things aren’t going well.”

Chambers knows his clients by name and by heart – when they should be home, when they might be out with a family member and even what they usually wear when the answer the door.

“Theresa lives by herself. She’s getting her favorite meal today – fish sticks,” Chamber said at one stop.

At another, he dropped off meals to 104-year-old Miss Crosby, who gets her hair done every Friday morning.

“Every time I deliver, I have to give her a hug,” he said.

If a client is not home when they are supposed to be, volunteers will reach out to their emergency contact, usually a family member. Most of the time, the person simply forgot to notify them that they have a doctor’s appointment.

Most of Chambers’ clients wanted to protect their privacy, but Tito Martinez was happy to say what Meals on Wheels means to him.

“It means a lot. It keeps money in my pocket. They’re really good,” said Martinez, a Vietnam veteran who lives with his brother. He said his favorite meal is the rice and beans.

The Meals on Wheels day begins at 5 a.m. in the kitchen at Fish On, a SoDel Concepts restaurant at Five Points.

SoDel employees cook and package the meals five days a week.

“We give them a protein, a starch and a vegetable. It’s like an assembly line,” said Maris Leftwich, who has been managing the Meals on Wheels preparation for three years. Clients get a different meal every day.

The arrangement gives Meals on Wheels a kitchen and provides SoDel with a small profit.

Aileen Mateo, co-director and volunteer coordinator, organizes the meals on carts, making it easier for drivers to pull them out to their cars.

A lot of planning goes into putting together the daily deliveries. Even when the blizzard threw her a curveball, Mateo said nobody went hungry.

“We anticipated that we were not going to deliver on Monday. We coordinated with Fish On and delivered the Monday meal on Friday,” Mateo said. “The volunteers contacted all the clients on their routes and told them to use the emergency kit boxes that we supply them with once a year. The boxes have five nonperishable meals.”

Meals on Wheels has 180 volunteers who cover an area that includes Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, Milton and Milford. They are one of five Meals on Wheels groups in Delaware.

Meals on Wheels Director Chris Strong said the annual budget is $1.2 million, with $850,000 coming from the state. The rest comes from donations, grants and three annual fundraisers.

Strong said the program is a godsend for those in need.

“We have a diverse group of clients: older, middle class that see us as a good service, folks who are disabled and can’t get out of the house, and 15% to 20% are close to or below the poverty line – if they don’t get meals, they’re not going to eat,” Strong said. “There is no fee. If you’re over 60 and want meals, within three days, you’ll start getting meals.”

Strong said Meals on Wheels is a safety net that can connect people with social services and help in other ways.

“We’ve had cases where people can’t pay their electric or gas bills. We can get them squared away, although we don’t have a lot of funds for those kinds of things,” Strong said.

Chambers said Meals on Wheels is a critical piece to allowing people to age in place.

“These folks can remain independent in their homes instead of going into nursing homes or living with their kids,” Chambers said. “Having meals every day is just one component of them being able to be safe and stay independent.”