Ashley McDaniel is on a mission. The Meals on Wheels director’s dream is that no elder in Mississippi goes hungry, especially those near one of Methodist Senior Services’ (MSS) 12 campuses around the state.
McDaniel leads MSS’s only Meals on Wheels program based at Traceway Retirement Community in Tupelo and is the program’s only paid employee. The MSS Meals on Wheels program is not affiliated with the national Meals on Wheels program and is not eligible for related federal funding.
The program serves around 165 residents in Lee County along 12 meal delivery routes. Besides Traceway, McDaniel contracts with local restaurants and grocery and convenience stores to prepare meals, and all routes are delivered by a crew of around 200 volunteers. The average cost is $5.75 per meal at an annual cost of $140,886 for the 12 routes.
“No elder should have to sit there every day and ask himself, where am I going to get food from today?” McDaniel said. “And people don’t realize that a Meals On Wheels program is more than just a hot meal. I tell people, it’s a safety check and conversation.”
Her volunteers monitor whether the previous day’s meal was picked up, and they’re quick to call and ask McDaniel to call and check on that elder. During COVID-19, Meals on Wheels was often the only person that elders on the routes got to see in a day, and many were waiting by the door to talk to the volunteer delivering meals.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of Meals on Wheels, from delivering meals to fundraising and marketing and everything in between. Dot Gann and Wynell Benson, residents at Traceway, are McDaniel’s right-hand women for the operation.
“I think the jobs you enjoy most are the ones you don’t get paid for really, that you do in service for others,” Benson said.
Gann agreed. She worked for 30 years as a minister’s assistant at First Baptist Church in Okolona, Miss., where she learned what it meant to be a servant of the Lord.
“[Meals on Wheels] filled a vacancy that I had,” Gann said. “After I came to Traceway, I was kind of lost that I wasn’t busy anymore. And so I found that there was a way to help with Meals on Wheels, and Ashley has just given us some wonderful opportunities to serve the community and to serve Traceway.”
The pair starts the week packaging cookies that are delivered with the meals. On a recent Monday, they individually packaged more than 100 cookies for the week’s meals, but they can package up to 200 cookies a week. The cookies are donated to the program by a local bakery. They assist with fundraising and marketing Meals on Wheels, which includes setting up and working at yard sales and bake sales.
The most unique fundraiser involves one-of-a-kind stained glass items they make. With donated stained glass, the women make jewelry, suncatchers and Christmas ornaments. The donated stained glass comes from all over the world, including remnants from church windows destroyed in natural disasters. Each item is different with pictures of angels, crosses and mangers.
“So, it seems like God has sent us what we need to make money to help supply the needs,” Benson said.
Gann drills holes with a drill or drill press, and Benson puts together the many items they sell.
“I’m not as artistic as she is, but I am good with the drilling,” Gann said.
While they only raise about $2,800 a year, the items generate conversation and awareness of the program. Gann and Benson help recruit other volunteers, help McDaniel speak to different groups about the purpose of Meals on Wheels, and hand out literature about the program.
“The whole reason why Meals on Wheels is even available to the public is because of the volunteers I have,” McDaniel said. “I have volunteers that cook food and donate food and money. I have volunteers that run routes. Then of course I have volunteers like Dot and Wynell that helped me. I call it the groundwork because even though you don’t see them out delivering meals every day, they are working for Meals on Wheels every day.”
Benson and Gann are so passionate about Meals on Wheels that not only are they donating their time, but they both are financial supporters as well.
“They personally donate to Meals on Wheels, and their families donate to Meals on Wheels. It’s something that they believe in that they talk to their aunts and nieces and uncles and children about. I could not do this job without Wynell and Dot,” McBride said.
Meals on Wheels is just one of the women’s volunteer activities. Gann is also the volunteer librarian for the campus, and leads a Women’s Bible Study. Benson and Gann both serve on the resident council and are hall monitors on the halls where they live.
“We volunteer for other things besides Meals on Wheels, but I have to say it’s the closest to our hearts,” Gann said.
To receive Meals on Wheels, you must be 62 or older, no longer be able cook for yourself or no longer have transportation to get food. Most of the recipients are 80 and older. For many, it may be the only meal they have each weekday.