Meals on Wheels delivers a prized connection between volunteers and seniors

Before Claudette Carroll had her first day on the job two weeks ago as a volunteer delivering for Meals on Wheels, the Corona del Mar resident was wondering, “Oh my God, what am I gonna do?”

She had lost her husband to a heart attack and adult daughter to cancer within the past year and a half.

But she reached out to fill the void by caring for others.

“The people were delighted to see another person. It’s sad — people are stuck and no one’s around. ... With the Meals on Wheels program, they know someone’s out there looking out for them,” Carroll said.

Volunteers for the service deliver food to senior citizens who aren’t able to prepare meals for themselves. For some clients, it’s more than a meal, it’s a lifeline. The volunteers might be the only people they see all day.

“The people are just wonderful. I like them as much as the meals,” said client Patricia Bradley, 88, of Corona del Mar.

Newport Beach retiree Herb Martin, who once ran a plumbing manufacturing company, believes the relationship between clients and volunteers is reciprocal.

“You get to know them and become friends and they confide in you if something isn’t going right,” said Martin, who has delivered meals to the same people for five years. “Someday that might be me — you never know. I’m 78, and volunteering keeps me active and involved. When you do things like this, it keeps you younger, gives you a purpose.”

Meals on Wheels addresses hunger and isolation by networking with more than 5,000 senior nutritional programs nationwide, including Orange County-based nonprofit Age Well Senior Services. The Oasis Senior Center in Corona del Mar provides space where meals are organized and distributed to volunteer drivers.

Volunteers deliver meals to recipients who meet the eligibility requirements of being homebound and unable to meet basic nutritional needs according to federal, state and county guidelines because of diminished health and mobility or a lack of financial or other resources.

Clients can receive three meals a day for a suggested donation of $7.50 per day. However, Age Well Senior Services says no one is denied because of inability to pay.

Andrea Collins, a home delivery manager for Age Well, said catering service Langlois Fancy Frozen Foods delivers 60 meals per day designated for Meals on Wheels to the Oasis kitchen, where volunteers pack them into coolers and load them into their cars. Each volunteer is provided a route with five to 11 stops per day.

When the volunteers return to Oasis with the empty coolers, they turn in a progress report.

“Our volunteers are our eyes and ears; they are a great communication for us and let us know if someone isn’t eating,” Collins said.

Bradley, who has been receiving meals three times a week for two years, said: “It’s hard to cook. Nothing is easy when you get old, and as time goes on, I do less and less. They [Meals on Wheels] are reliable. I know it’s there and always have something in the ice box.”

According to Age Well site manager Trish McCauley, the Meals on Wheels program helps seniors cope with three of the biggest threats of aging: hunger, isolation and loss of independence.

The program enables many seniors to remain in their homes because their basic needs are satisfied, McCauley said, and research shows that older adults who stay in their homes live longer and happier.

“The best part of delivering MOW is making someone else’s day rewarding,” McCauley said. “You don’t know the whys until you’ve been to the homes.”

Stan Troutman, a 99-year-old widower from Corona del Mar, has peripheral neuropathy, a condition that limits his mobility and therefore his ability to cook.

“I’m great with the microwave though,” said Troutman, a retired photography department head at UCLA and a former World War II correspondent. “I’ve been receiving meals for five years, which is a great help. And with this service available, it has enabled me to live by myself. And at 99 ... [that’s] an achievement.”

For information about volunteering, visit agewellseniorservices.org.