Meals on Wheels helpers get served
By Matt Shaw
Published in News on April 30, 2004 2:04 PM
Hundreds of people, so used to spending their lunch hours delivering meals, tried something different Thursday -- being served.
WAGES held its annual appreciation luncheon for Meals on Wheels volunteers at the Goldsboro Country Club. On the menu were food, fellowship and some heart-felt words of appreciation.
"It looks like most of Wayne County is here," joked Brownie Doss, administrator for WAGES' nutrition program, as she looked out over the packed banquet room.
The success of the Meals on Wheels program draws the awe of other communities, Mrs. Doss said. "People ask me, 'How in the world do you serve 400 meals a day?' I say, we live in a wonderful community with wonderful people."
District Court Judge Rose Vaughn Williams, a guest speaker, added her thanks.
She noted that e-mail, text messages and other inventions had eliminated some of the human interaction that was once commonplace.
The Meals on Wheels volunteers were giving up their free time, or even shoehorning the duties into otherwise busy schedules, she said, just to give the elderly, shut-ins and others a daily dose of human kindness.
"In this day and age, you have chosen to give your time and your presence, the most valuable thing anyone has to offer," she said. "That's just as valuable to them as the meal."
She concluded, "You are the people who make me so proud of Wayne County."
Currently, Meals on Wheels is delivering to 390 people five days a week, both in Goldsboro and throughout the county. Between April 2003 and March 2004, the program served 88,672 meals.
The program does not single out volunteers, but volunteer coordinator Andrea Bone and Mrs. Doss recognized several volunteers who coordinate the county routes. They are Bobbie Holland, Belfast; Mabel Best and Emma Newkirk, Dudley; Joyce Garris, Elroy; Brooks Moore, Eureka; Pearl Whaley and Bill Stanley, Kirkwood; Ida Claypool, Mar Mac; Cleo Bowden, Mount Olive; Ed Dees, New Hope; Bobby Clayton and Donna Mercer, Rosewood; and Carolyn Pittman, Saulston.
Terry Davis is the Meals on Wheels coordinator; Sue Harvell, the home assessment coordinator; and Bryan Sutton is executive director of WAGES.