Freedom at Home
Not Forgotten
Words by Mallory Lehenbauer Photos by Eric Morales
Meals on Wheels is more than just hot meals a few times a week. It’s supporting community, freedom, and stability every day to East Austin’s elderly and disabled residents.
Meals on Wheels opened in 1972 with eight volunteers serving 29 seniors three times a week. Many changes have occurred over the last 47 years, but the mission is still the same: to provide one hot nourishing meal per day, both in a congregate setting and to their homebound clients. Today their headquarters in East Austin has 7,500 volunteers providing meals, services, and support to more than 5,000 central Texas clients every year.
As Thad Rosenfeld, Vice President of Communications, puts it, “It’s hard to argue with what we do here. We help older adults and people with disabilities maintain their independence and stay a part of the community. That doesn’t just serve them; it also serves the community because these are our elders.” This means the thousands of people that Meals on Wheels serves are able to stay in their homes, avoiding the higher cost of assisted living while still maintaining their dignity.
The Meals on Wheels Headquarters is not just the main office for all operations but functions as the distribution center for all of Central Texas. Paid kitchen staff begin their day at 2 o’clock in the morning preparing a nutritional meal to serve to hundreds of Central Texans each day. At 11am, volunteers arrive to begin their routes throughout town to deliver meals, to perform well-checks, and to simply just remind people that they are not forgotten.
”Our volunteers deliver 90% of the meals that we do, and that’s about 2,700 meals every day,” Rosenfeld states proudly. Beyond the main distribution center, several satellite distribution sites work to reach outside of East Austin to Travis and Williamson counties.
“[We take] a holistic approach to keeping older adults and people with disabilities living independently in their own home,” Rosenfeld elaborates. “There’s a reason why our headquarters is in East Austin, and we have been around since 1972. Historically, the vast majority of people who we served lived in East Austin, and that has been the case until recently.”
With the current changes to the city, some residents have left and moved to different parts of town. But the residents who remain, Rosenfeld believes, are the heartbeat to the community.
“These are the folks who help make Austin what it is today, and to have them in our neighborhoods, it brings diversity, and it brings this knowledge that they have—something we don’t have—because they’ve been around longer,” Rosenfeld smiles. “We have several older clients who are living in the home they were born. It’s nice to be able to help them stay in these homes in what, I think, is the prettiest part of Austin.”
Beyond meals, the home repair program along with other services helps keep these residents living exactly where they choose to live. Rosenfeld says the home repair service has made the biggest impact on the homes in East Austin. Meals on Wheels acts as a general contractor and sends paid staff to repair and maintain homes for those unable to do so themselves.
“We do more than 3 million dollars in home repair a year,” Rosenfeld explains. “The home repair program helps maintain the upkeep of homes. Many [of those serviced] need foundation or roof work. The people we serve are the collective memory of East Austin. They know its history.”
Rosenfeld not only works in Communications at Meals on Wheels but also volunteers. “What I love about being a Meals on Wheels volunteer, in addition to working here, is that it’s a volunteer opportunity where the rubber meets the road,” he extols. “You are actually where that act of kindness is occurring. You are literally face-to-face with the person you are helping. It’s just that one hour, visiting folks, just a few minutes of time delivering a hot meal, a warm smile and a reminder to them that they have not been forgotten. I don’t know any place
Get Involved!
If you are interested in volunteering or donating, visit mealsonwheelscentraltexas.org and click on “Get Involved.”
Contact:
(512) 689-3177
3227 E 5th Street
mealsonwheelscentraltexas.org
@mealsonwheelscentraltexas
