But there’s a social aspect, too. Sometimes, the Meals On Wheels volunteer is the only visitor that a shut-in sees all day. If no one comes to the door, calls are made on cell phones to make sure that everything is OK.
“Most people are waiting at the door for you. You know the ones who can’t. Some are bedfast, so you put it on the table,” said Baker, who also volunteers at the federal veterans’ hospital in Marion, Ind.
“You take time if they want to talk, but some are right there; they want their meal, they’re ready to get their food,” she said.
Naomi Malston, who has coordinated Tipton’s program for the past seven years, said that 10 local churches provide volunteers. They drive their own cars and donate their time and gasoline.
“Without volunteers, we couldn’t do it — there is no way,” Malston said.
As St. John the Baptist volunteer coordinator, Baker provides Malston with detailed lists of daily drivers, and contact information for backup drivers. Even in the worst of weather, the volunteers show up and make their deliveries, Malston said.
“Their church is wonderful. I don’t think they’ve ever had a no-show,” she said.
Father Bouvier asked Baker to serve as coordinator, and 40 years later,” I’m still doing it,” said Baker, a former real-estate appraiser and county assessor. “I probably should be teaching someone what I really do.”
In February, her 10 drivers — mostly retirees — worked two routes, five days a week. Each route had either 10 or 11 clients, but in the past, there have been up to 15 clients per route.
Stops were clustered geographically, so a route could be completed in less than an hour.
“People ask you what church you’re with, but some already know,” Baker said. “Some (clients) are on for only two or three weeks while they recuperate after knee surgery or whatever, then they can cook their own meals again; others get meals for a long time. My mother was on Meals On Wheels for 10 years.
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“People are so appreciative when you bring their meal,” Baker said. “Often, we’re the only person they see all day. Their families may live out of town, or they aren’t here every day. It’s a life-link for them to have us. They can’t say ‘thank you’ enough.”
An added bonus comes when the students at St. John the Baptist School make crayon drawings on the dinner bags. Some of the clients even hang the artwork on their walls.
Without Meals On Wheels, she said, “some (clients) would have to go to a nursing home. They have no family here, and they don’t want to go to the nursing home.”
Hubert “Hube” Tragesser has been a Meals On Wheels volunteer since the beginning. He’s been a member of the parish council at St. John the Baptist Church even longer — starting in 1969.
“I saw in the Sunday bulletin that they needed volunteers, and I had the time to do it,” he explained. “It’s a pleasure to feed people and make them happy by doing volunteer work. Some of them, nobody else goes there.”
Tragesser, a farmer, also volunteers with Caregiver Companion, Habitat for Humanity and other organizations. At St. John the Baptist School, he helps fill backpacks with food for families in need.