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‘Mobile Meals’ helps seniors stay at home
Farragut Presbyterian Church volunteers weekly – including Christmas Day
Ashley Peterson - Thu, Dec, 3, 2009
Farragut Presbyterian Church members volunteer to give “Mobile Meals” year-round to area seniors and those who are not able to provide a meal for themselves.
Farragut Presbyterian has about 12 volunteers who rotate routes on Fridays; one couple in the church carries additional routes.
Mobile Meals currently has 947 people enrolled in the meal program. There currently are 67 routes in Knox County area. Meals are delivered Monday through Friday every week of the year. Weekend meals can be provided.
For December, Mobile Meals is in need of holiday volunteers, as many of their regular volunteers are out of town. Plus, gifts are given Christmas morning – volunteers are needed to collect, sort and distribute the gifts.
Some meals they bring include: fish, carrot salad, beans, hot dogs, greens, apples, hamburgers and stew. Everyone receives milk daily; some prefer buttermilk to be delivered.
Karen Marquand and Margo Gregory were the forerunners of the meals program at Farragut Presbyterian Church more than 16 years ago. The two women decided to give back to the community.
“We received a letter from Mobile Meals and decided to take it on ourselves. We recruited members from our church and scheduled appointments,” Gregory said.
“Personally, I’ve volunteered every Christmas for the last 11 or 12 years,” Gregory said.
“It’s a great volunteer opportunity for the holidays.”
Elbert Heft, a Historic Concord Village resident since 1942 and World War II veteran, receives his Mobile Meals Meal daily. He said he’s thankful for “a balanced meal, [because without it,] living alone, I just snack around.”
Mobile Meals has provided the necessary nutrition to area seniors for many years.
While receiving his meal, Heft enjoys conversation with John Neighbors, a Farragut Presbyterian Church volunteer. They chat about The University of Tennessee Vols football team, laugh and enjoy each other’s company.
John Neighbors volunteers with his wife, Carolyn, three or more times a month; they’ve volunteered for at least 16 years. They’re “on call” for volunteers who aren’t able to make their designated trips.
Carolyn said, “For some people we deliver to, it enables them to stay out of a retirement home because they’re able to receive balanced meals daily.”
People from every background are in similar circumstances. They’ve made trips to a Sequoyah Hills professor living alone, John Neighbors added.
For the seniors and elderly who may not have family to stop in on them – making sure they’re receiving the proper nutrition or just saying “hello” – Mobile Meals is there to provide what many take for granted.
“We try to help people stay in their homes. Some have no family to check in on them five days a week. That’s why we’re here,” John said. “We help families feel more comfortable about their loved one living alone.”
Some Meals recipients have family or friends living with them who work or go to school full time and are not able to ensure their loved one receives meals while they are gone.
“Volunteering reminds me that we’re all fortunate. We’re healthy and fortunate we have extended family,” Gregory said.
“We have so much going for us,” Gregory said.
So many don’t simply need a meal. “They need someone to drop by and see how they are doing, smile and let them know someone cares,” Gregory added.
Many volunteers with Mobile Meals are retired, mothers who bring their children along and parents with grown children who are looking for ways to give back to the community.
“It’s a great opportunity for moms with their kids. These folks love the smiles kids bring,” Gregory said.
“Our oldest volunteer is 92 years old and the youngest is a toddler. It’s a wonderful way to teach your children to give back,” Jennifer Oaks, volunteer coordinator at Mobile Meals, said.
“This is a chance for children to minister, give back to someone and touch lives. That’s what we’re all about.
“Most of our recipients are over 80 [years old]. Mobile Meals teaches the youth to respect the elderly,” she added.
Providing others with a basic human need touches the lives of those who volunteer. Oakes said there is a volunteer from Knoxville whose father died up north. After he went to the funeral there, he came home to Knoxville and immediately took up the torch his father had carried. Though he works full-time as a businessman, he finds time here and there to volunteer with Mobile Meals.
Homeschoolers and corporate folks help too — doctors, lawyers and Pilot Corporation professionals are some of their volunteers, Oakes said.
“Mobile Meals was started Nov. 1, 1971 and it has always been about getting volunteers to serve homebound seniors, people who have made our community and country what it is today,” Oakes said. Mobile Meals is a part of Knoxville, Knox County Community Action Committee Office on Aging, Senior Nutrition Mobile Meals program.
To volunteer or for more information, contact Jennifer Oakes at Jennifer.oakes@knoxcac.org or call 865-524-2786.
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