Delivering Love One Meal at a Time with McCurley
What goes around comes around, and for Kristi Thien, Director of Nutrition Services for Senior Life Resources NW, and all the Meals on Wheels volunteers, what’s going around is compassion. Behind the blue and white vans Meals on Wheels vans you see zipping around town are the hundreds of volunteers who donate their time to prepare and deliver hot meals to our community’s local homebound seniors.
The volunteers spend countless hours meal planning, prepping, cooking, and delivering the meals—not to mention the cleanup. “One of their favorite meals is our lasagna,” says Kristi, “which also happens to create the biggest mess.” That doesn’t deter the team though, and often even the office administration staff can be found on dish-washing duty.
Volunteer Brad Johnson preps and packs meals for delivery.
Although a large portion of what makes Meals on Wheels a success is its volunteer base, there are costs associated with running a non-profit, and those costs can add up quickly. Enter McCurley Leadership. They recognize the financial needs of the organization and continue to choose Meals on Wheels as the recipient of the Hometown Charity portion of the annual Share the Love Event put on by Subaru of America.
This year, the Share the Love event donation to Meals on Wheels totaled over $30,000. Over the years, this campaign has donated approximately $200,000 to the non-profit, thereby helping provide about 30,000 meals to local seniors. The team has become real advocates for the program, volunteering themselves and providing exposure.
On a busy day in the Meals on Wheels kitchen, we asked some of the volunteers why they continue to donate precious time. The resounding answer? Aside from a service-oriented worldview, many wanted to give back to the organization that has provided so much care to their own parents, grandparents, and loved ones. “Our staff and volunteers are some of the most amazing and humble people,” says Kristi. “It is a privilege to work with such a selfless and dedicated team.”
Read more in our Winter 2021 issue, and to get involved with Meals on Wheels, visit seniorliferesources.org.