Wanted: Volunteer for Meals on Wheels' Paper Plate Project

Written by Mary Ellen Alu

The notes are poignant:

* "We are 81 years old. My husband is house-bound from a stroke. A healthy meal and a friendly face always brighten our days and make our lives so much easier."

* "Meals on Wheels provides the main meal & food I have each day. The food is balanced and wholesome. Also the M.O.W volunteers are frequently the only people I get to see on many days."

* "I'm 80 years old and lost my wife two years ago. I can't cook worth a darn. [Meals on Wheels] provides me with a healthy variety of tasty meals that I can neither prepare or afford on my own."

Handwritten on paper plates, the notes collectively tell a story about Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County and its value to its low-income, elderly clients—not only providing home-delivered meals but human contact, too.  They are intended to send a message to Congress—to end sequestration and further funding cuts of senior nutrition programs.

Now, Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County is looking for a volunteer to help create a video of its paper plate project—a collection of some 200 paper plates on which clients have written down what the agency means to them. The agency is hoping someone also can set music to the video, for posting on YouTube, Facebook and the agency's website.

Michele Grasso, the agency's development director, said the project is part of a national “Don’t Empty My Plate Campaign,” organized by the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services programs, in opposition to funding cuts and sequestration of senior nutrition programs. 

Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County receives $50,000 a year from the Older Americans Act. Although a small contribution to its $1 million budget, the money fully funds a daily hot meal for 37 of the agency's 360 clients, she said.

Grasso said Meals on Wheels saves money long-term because its clients can stay in their homes, a cheaper alternative to long-term institutional care.  Also, clients are less likely to go to the hospital because they are able to maintain or improve their health with proper nutrition, she said.

"We need to raise more than $400,000 each year to meet the need for home-delivered meals in our community and rely on the generosity of individuals, companies, foundations, and organizations," Grasso said.

"The comments from the clients on these plates shows how much our program is needed to ensure that our homebound receive the nutrition they need delivered by caring volunteers.  Our program really is more than a meal."

Anyone qualified and interested in the paper plate project can call Michele Grasso at 610-841-7023.

(Meals on Wheels, on its Facebook page, points out that the volunteer can get community service hours for the project, and could put the work on a resume.