By Courtney Rabideau (Contact / Staff Bio)
July 2, 2008 - 12:00 a.m. EST

CARO ‹ Jerry Lasceski, a familiar face in the Akron-Fairgrove area and a Home Delivered Meals volunteer, greets Caro residents and hands them their meal. Today, the menu features tuna noodle casserole, broccoli, a baked apple and milk. It’s evident by the smiles on both sides that this exchange is about more than just dinner.

Home Delivered Meals, a program overseen by the Human Development Commission, is a volunteer driver-based service that delivers nutritious meals to seniors who are unable to cook for themselves.

Available in Huron, Sanilac and Tuscola counties for seniors and couples 60 and over, there are six different dining centers throughout the Thumb.

With locations in Cass City, Reese, Mayville, Millington, Vassar and headquartered in Caro, the program leaves no city without their services.

The HDC has perfected their meal system, offering recipients one hot or cold meal per day, and delivering every day of the week with the exception of Thursday. The volunteers also leave a frozen meal, along with dinner on Wednesdays as well as weekend meals on Fridays, to ensure that all bases are covered.

“The program is designed for those who aren’t capable of fixing meals for themselves. For many, we service them every day. In other cases, some are recovering from various health-related reasons, so we take care of them until they’re healed,” says Julia DeGuise, manager of the Foster Grandparent Program and the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program at the HDC.

“Temporary services are often based on referrals from hospitals or clinics, but most of the time, family members or senior citizens call us to receive information and sign up. We do a home evaluation and from there, we start to serve them.”

“Recipients receive a monthly menu, approved by a dietician, that displays what we’ll be offering, as well as denoting different nutrition values next to the food items,” she added.

Each meal contains at least 1/3 of the dietary allowance recommended by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Science-National Resource Council. Entirely homemade within their kitchens, the food is packaged in trays and sealed before shipment.

In the main kitchen in Caro, coolers line the wall as cooks prepare the meal for the day.

“The cooler system we employ is very efficient for what we do. For all cold meals, we pack the contents tight with ice and hot meals sit in the coolers on top of a heated brick,” commented DeGuise.

After the coolers are packed and loaded in vehicles, the volunteers make their rounds and supply area residents with what could be their only source of food. Routes are divided by geographic area.

Tara Smith, Nutrition Program manager, stated, “Our volunteer drivers each have different routes they run on a daily basis. For some, that means delivering to our various dining centers, but to others, that’s driving around the Thumb countryside to locate other recipients.”

The routes are remonitored daily to include those who are continually added to the list of customers. Drivers monitor the same route Monday through Friday from around 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

The program runs into obstacles in the winter when snow covers the roads, making it nearly impossible to reach those with houses in the far corners of our area. On those occasions, volunteers are sure to leave various cupboard meals in case the weather continues to provide a challenge.

“You have to remember, we supply the only food source some of these people are getting. No matter what the weather brings, it is a necessity that we continue our services.” DeGuise added.

“People have to eat.”

Based completely on donations, the program also depends greatly on the commitment of the volunteers.

“We are constantly in need of more residents to step up and volunteer for our program,” Smith said. “Their services are, as we said before, about so much more than just delivering food. Our volunteers routinely check on these people to make sure they’re okay, to provide them with the only human contact they might receive.

“It is our hope that these residents can stay in their homes; that’s why we do what we do. By coming to them, they don’t have to leave the comfort of their own walls,” added Smith, who also noted, “We service around 188 people per day. Our volunteers are the ones who make this program work.”

One of the biggest challenges the HDC faces is the commitment necessary to serve as a volunteer.

Because the program is based entirely on the willingness of the volunteers, the HDC hopes to build up their volunteer core so that the commitment isn’t as large.

“More volunteers would allow shorter routes within our program,” said DeGuise.

The Home Delivered Meals program touches lives on a daily basis. Two of the recipients of the meals who live in the Senior Commons in Caro, JoAnn Freeland and Nancy Daughtry, have nothing but praise for the program.

“It’s so nice to see a smiling face every day,” Freeland noted. “All the staff are so pleasant and will joke with us as they give us our meals. For those living in the Senior Commons who don’t see many people a day, that’s a true blessing.”

And Daughtry has her own story. “Before I received Home Delivered Meals, I weighed under 100 pounds. I couldn’t stand for long periods of time, so cooking was impossible. Three years later, my weight is back to normal and the staff make life so much easier for me.”

“It’s ideal, really.”

For information about volunteering for the Home Delivered Meals program or any of the other volunteer programs available, contact the Human Development Commission in your county.