Dec 25, 2018 4 min read

You’re familiar with Meals On Wheels programs: Volunteers deliver hot, nutritious meals to people ages 60 and older who are unable to shop and cook.

In some cases, they may be younger than the folks who bring them food.

“A lot of our volunteers are getting up there in years,” said Mary Lynn Spilak, Aging Services of Washington County director. “They go to Florida in the winter, or they’re babysitting their grandchildren. So we’re needing a new generation of people to step up and help us deliver these meals.”

About 500 meals per day are prepared for delivery at the senior centers under the auspices of Aging Service, and Spilak said the centers in Bentleyville, Burgettstown, Cross Creek, Bethlehem-Center, Claysville and Washington are in particular need of volunteers. For delivering meals, the commitment typically is one day a week for a route that takes a couple of hours to complete.

South Franklin Township resident Ernie McCullough, 82, delivers on Tuesdays, picking up his meals at the Washington Area Senior Center of West Maiden Street.

“It usually makes you feel better at the end of the day when you’re finished,” he said, “because sometimes we might see people who might not see anybody else, except us.”

Two people usually make deliveries, one driving and the other serving as “runner” to take meals to the door, and he teams up with Deerfield Road neighbor Dale Mahan.

“Usually, we switch every other time,” McCullough said. “But if there’s a problem, one might drive a couple of times in a row. Once in a while, my wife” – she’s Brenda – “needs the car, so Dale, he’ll drive.”

Ernie has been delivering meals for 18, since his retirement after four decades with Jessop Steel Co.

“You’ve got to keep going. I didn’t plan on retiring and sitting in a rocking chair,” he explained, plus the activity fits into the McCulloughs’ philosophy: “My wife and I feel that you should donate back to the county or the township you live in, and try to buy locally, if possible, and support the people in your area.”

For Bob Hillberry, also of South Franklin, his delivery partner is his wife, Sally, who began volunteering with Meals on Wheels in 1984 after hearing about the program at their church. When her friend who delivered with her moved away, she recruited her husband.

“We’ve met some very nice and some very interesting people, many, many people I would never have met,” Bob said. “I get this sense of satisfaction from it. I truly do.”

A former district governor of Rotary International District 7330, he takes Rotary’s motto to heart: Service above self. And perhaps others should follow suit, he suggested, to provide support for Meals On Wheels coordinators.

“If they’re in here and a volunteer calls in to say, ‘I can’t drive today,’ they have to really scurry and scuffle in order to find somebody,” he said. “They could use another handful, at least, ASAP.”

The Hillberrys’ route takes them from Washington Area Senior Center through the city and into East Washington and South Strabane Township, where they’ve gotten to know some of the meal recipients well.

“Every week, something’s going on. So they tell you about some surgery they’ve had, or they had a grandbaby,” Bob said. “And you bring some smiles to their faces.”

The food tends to do so, as well.

“We say it’s a hot meal from a warm heart, because our volunteers do this,” Spilak said. One thing they all have in common is their willingness to offer their gift of time. Whether it’s during the holidays or throughout the year, they’re always willing always helpful, and just wonderful.”

For information about volunteering, call Mary Lynn Spilak at 724-228-6856.