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Delivering Meals and Companionship Meals on Wheels has expanded during the pandemic BY CARLTON REESE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY RALPH DEMILIO
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or some elderly and infirm, the entire universe may as well be 1,000 square feet enclosed in drywall and dated paper. The few voices that interrupt the day’s silence come mostly from the television set or the AM/FM radio that also serves as an alarm clock. At some point in the early afternoon the doorbell rings and a little life leaps into a barren day. On the porch awaits a volunteer for Meals on Wheels, delivering not just a hot lunch to a needy and immobile client but also some heartfelt companionship that goes a long way to enhancing one’s quality of life. One of the core programs at Marion Senior Services, Meals on Wheels serves nearly 73,000 meals to over 500 clients a year and along the way delivers hope with a hot meal. “We just want people to know they’re not forgotten,” said Jenny Martinez, Executive Director of Marion Senior Services. “It’s making sure they know and understand there are people out there that know them and love them and want them to do well. It gives them purpose.” In 1973, several local women concerned about their neighbors took a $100 check from Blessed Trinity Catholic Church and began delivering meals to homebound seniors. From that small beginning grew MSS and the local Meals on Wheels program that started in England during the German bombing campaigns early in World War II. With nutritionists and dieticians overseeing the preparation of all meals, homebound seniors in Marion County are able to receive one-third of their daily nutritional requirements through the delivery of lunch, something nearly all would have otherwise been deprived.
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| APR 2021 | OCALAMAGAZINE.COM
Rondo Fernandez, Jennifer Martinez, Mayor Kent Guinn and Police Chief Mike Balken
The meals arrive via volunteer or MSS staff member and looks much like a traditional TV dinner, but healthier. In some cases, according to Martinez, the meals replace ketchup packets and water. In such cases, pride gets in the way of the necessary inquiries into services. “They don’t want to burden anybody,” Martinez said. “They don’t want to make their problems somebody else’s so they try to maintain themselves and that usually doesn’t work. We’re very honored to be able to help these people. “Our whole mission is to keep seniors independent and in the home as long as possible. There’s no place like home – it’s not just a slogan.” With the onset of the pandemic, the efficiency and volume of Meals on Wheels
has been tested like no other time before. Martinez and her team certainly anticipated a greater demand from clients, but also feared a depletion of volunteer forces which, like most charitable operations, are its lifeblood. As most volunteers are seniors themselves, it was believed fears of COVID would ultimately keep many from their usual rounds. To Martinez’ surprise, the volunteers and staff at MSS actually increased their vigilance, enabling a continuation of the services. “(The volunteers) all showed up,” Martinez said. “They even took it more to heart that they remain consistent, that they didn’t want a stranger going to their (appointed) houses because in a scary time we have been in they didn’t want to add in another layer of the unknown. They came out and continued their mission. “It was really warming for me as an exec-
