Charlottesville-area woman shares what Meals on Wheels means to her

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – Meals on Wheels has a three part mission: providing a nutritious lunch, wellness checks, and showing up with a friendly face.

For some living alone the knock on the door is a bright spot in their day, opening it and seeing a friendly face with food can mean a lot.

“I needed help after I had the stroke, I couldn’t cook and I couldn’t do anything but I can now, I cook my own breakfast. I fix them own lunch. I fix my sandwiches and stuff,” Meals on Wheels client Charlotte Woodson said.

Woodson gets lunch from Meals on Wheels every week day.

“I like talking to the people,” Woodson said. “It means a lot to me.”

Woodson is one of the 270 people around here who count on the service.

“We have added quite a few over Covid-19. We’ve gone up in the total amount of clients that we can serve, but there’s always a need for more funding,” Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle Assistant Director Allie Dudley said.

Even with the 75 people added recently, others are still waiting.

“It costs $1,500 for us to serve a client lunch for an entire year and in order to get somebody off the waitlist, we not only need those funds to subsidize those costs, but we also need to be able to help clients figure out what’s next,” Dudley said.

This is about more than serving lunch.

“We also want to do a wellness check and make sure that the client who is most often living alone is doing okay, and then have a just a friendly face to be able to have a conversation and really form a bond and a friendship between volunteer and client,” Dudley said.

“They’re so nice and so friendly. Some of them just sits there and talk to me,” Woodson said. “I’s a good organization that they’ve got because it helps a lot of people.”

Dudley says volunteers keep the wheels moving, the client volunteer relationship is crucial.

If you want to sign up to be a volunteer that information can be found here.

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