Meals On Wheels Honors Its Volunteers

By Kaaren Valenta

Newtown Meals on Wheels honored its volunteers last week at a morning tea, thanking them for providing 8,243 meals – the most ever – to 63 housebound persons during 1999.

“This is a wonderful service provided to our elderly residents,” First Selectman Herb Rosenthal told the 72 volunteers and six guests who attended the reception in the undercroft at Trinity Church.

“You may be the only visitors these recipients get all week,” Mr Rosenthal said. “Bringing food and sharing a few moments with these people is important. It is part of what makes Newtown the caring town that it is.”

The organization honored Elsie Bawden for 25 years of volunteer service and Ruth Kirkwood and Bobbe Bowles for 20 years. Gretchen Bauta and Kit and Al Brinkman have been volunteers for 15 years, Joan Tynan for 10 years. Receiving recognition for five years were Bob Woodies, Elaine Borrelli, Hank Bahrenburg, Rocky Peruch, Lynn Atkinson, and Nancy Kennedy.

The Birthe Melville Bravo Award for outstanding service was presented to MOW President Becky Smith and recipient interviewers Marilyn Alexander and Janet Hovious. The award is given in honor of the late Mrs Melville who was active in Meals on Wheels and in many charitable and civic projects in Newtown.

Each weekday volunteer members of Meals on Wheels (MOW) pick up nutritious meals prepared at Ashlar of Newtown and deliver them to persons who are housebound, usually elderly persons who live alone and younger people who are temporarily incapacitated. The nonprofit organization, now in its 26th year, includes approximately 120 volunteers who serve as drivers, callers, and coordinators.

“We are 100 percent volunteer,” said Peg Forbell, MOW treasurer. “We receive no state or federal funding.”

Originally the meals were prepared by the kitchen at Fairfield Hills Hospital. When the mental hospital closed, Ashlar of Newtown agreed to take over the job.

“It has been a good partnership,” said Ashlar President Tom Gutner. “We’ve been doing it for almost five years now. The last few years have been difficult, as the drivers have had to negotiate the ‘land mines’ caused by the renovations at Ashlar.”

Gail Mas, chef/manager at Ashlar, and Helen Howell, Ashlar’s food services coordinator, were among the guests at the luncheon.

MOW recipients pay $2.50 per meal. It costs MOW approximately $3 to provide each meal, including the cost of packaging, liability insurance, mailings, and other expenses. The difference is paid by donations from individuals and estates, as well as donations from local companies and organizations. Last year the contributors included the Newtown Woman’s Club, Women Involved in Newtown, the Taunton Press, and the Hughes Optical Helping Hand Fund. Local Scout troops and other children provided holiday favors for the recipients during the year.

Meals on Wheels always needs volunteers who can donate an hour or two once a month to deliver meals. Meals are picked up at Ashlar at 11:35 am and delivered to five to nine homes on a set route, a process that takes approximately one hour. Call Colleen Honan at 426-0714 to volunteer or for more information.

Many Newtown merchants donated gifts that were given, by means of a free raffle, to the Meals on Wheels volunteers at the luncheon. Amaral Motors also provided the volunteers with a letter authorizing free service for a flat tire, dead battery, or other road emergency that occurs while they are making meal deliveries.