Published: May 26, 2009 05:07 pm      

Meals on Wheels honors volunteers

Meals on Wheels of Palestine honored its Anderson County volunteers with its annual banquet and awards ceremony on Tuesday. An estimated 100 were in attendance.

The theme of this years event was “Teamwork” with the actual theme being “You are an essential part of our Team.” All volunteers were given a certificate and a key chain with the theme on them. The dinner was prepared by the Meals on Wheels cooking staff and served by young men from Azleway Pine Mountain Boys Ranch.

John Drake was honored as the Home Delivered Volunteer of the year. Drake drives several times each week and is always willing to sub when a driver cannot do their route. He has been driving for several years.

Drake's reasoning for why he loves delivering meals is that ”it is a blessing to me, just to see those smiling faces when I deliver those meals.”

Not only does Drake deliver the meals, but he sometimes does little chores for the people on the route, such as lighting the pilot light on the furnace, when an elderly client could not do it for herself. Drivers, in the past, have changed light bulbs, and fixed screen doors for people they delivered to. Just little things that make the elderly homebound meal recipient's life a little easier.

Bob Beck, who is an attorney and serves as treasurer on the Meals on Wheels Board was honored as Volunteer of The Year.

In naming the honoree, Executive Director Lois Durant, “Bob has been a great help to me in the past year and a half. Every time I have needed help on decisions concerning any legality about the new building on Church Street, I have called Bob. He has always been there. I don't know what I would do without him. I don't think that he has ever told me that he was too busy to attend to something when I needed his help. I am very pleased to name Bob as our volunteer of the year.”

The volunteers who help Meals on Wheels and the Palestine Senior Activity Center, do many other jobs besides delivering meals. There are people who volunteer at the front desk as receptionists; people who volunteer at the twice monthly dances; people who count money every day; clogging and art teachers; entertainers; board members, and speakers. There are 65 different volunteers in Anderson County.

Altogether, the volunteers give an average of 277 hours per month.