Volunteers brave frigid temperatures to deliver Meals on Wheels

By Bob Jones

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    MASSILLON, Ohio (WEWS) — It might be frigid throughout Northeast Ohio this week, but that’s not stopping volunteers from braving the elements to make sure some of your neighbors don’t go hungry.

Meal on Wheels of Northeast Ohio, which deliveries about 1,300 meals a day in Portage, Stark, Summit and Wayne counties, is making sure warm meals are being delivered to homes along 45 routes despite the bone-chilling cold.

“It’s really frigid cold, but thank goodness the sun was out today, so that kind of helped warm it up a little bit,” said 74-year-old Pam Kleinhenz, who has been volunteering for three years.

The deliveries are made five days a week. On a typical route, a volunteer will make stops at 15 to 20 homes.

“These people count on us,” Kleinhenz said. “I like to check on them. It’s my way of kind of giving back.”

Nora Logsdon, the program development manager, said there are about 260 volunteers, but she also make deliveries, when needed, as she did on Tuesday in Massillon.

When there is heavy snow or windchill temperatures around zero, there are early morning discussions on whether to cancel deliveries.

There is careful consideration, balancing the safety of the volunteer drivers with the need of the clients to get their food.

Logsdon, who has been with the agency for nearly 40 years, estimated deliveries have only been canceled about 10 times.

“Trust me, if we close, our volunteers are going to be the first ones to say, ‘Why did you do that? We need to be out there. Our people need us,'” Logsdon said.

According to Logsdon, the number of clients requesting deliveries rose about 20% during the pandemic.

The number of clients has remained relatively steady ever since. However, there is also a waiting list of about 200 people, Logsdon told News 5.

“It’s just a shortfall. Many of our clients can’t pay the full cost of our meals, so any donation that we receive, we help underwrite the cost of the meal for them,” she said.

Meals on Wheels of Northeast Ohio receives funding through private donations, Medicaid and the Older Americans Act.

Logsdon said in order to grow the program, additional funding and about 40 more volunteers would be needed.

Safety checks conducted by the volunteers are considered just as important as the meal deliveries, Logsdon said.

“Checking to make sure: Is there heat on? Do they have what they need? Are the okay? We don’t rest until we know that everybody is okay,” Logsdon said.

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