Meals on Wheels of Marshalltown (MOW) was started in 1967 by a small group of local people as a way to provide a needed service to the community. They saw that supplying a daily hot meal including dietary provisions would be a way to help people stay more independent in their own homes. MOW first collaborated with Evangelical Hospital for meal prep and most recently MMSC and now Central Iowa Health Care (CIH). MOW is an all-volunteer private non-profit organization which charges a nominal amount for hot meals prepared by the hospital and delivered 365 days per year. Drivers also provide a check on safety of the meal recipient. We contract with Iowa Home Care which is an organization that helps us coordinate referrals from doctors, case workers, and families.

Many volunteers work in town and two of the most notable are Fran Hermanson and Glady Winter. These two women have successfully steered MOW through the last 20+ years of its 48-year history. They did not know each other before beginning to recruit drivers, schedule driving routes, produce monthly calendars, and iron out all the daily nitty-gritty details needed to deliver an average of 1,000 meals per month. Both are retiring from the Transportation Committee this month.

Sheila Keilly, former board member and many times driver writes: “One of the things Fran and Glady did that was impressive from the beginning was attention to detail. They knew every route as well as the preferences of each client. In addition to knowing the precise place to set the meal and find the empty tray, they also knew such things as one client wants a spoon from the drawer by the stove and another needs the milk opened, while the other wants the meal in her chair or perhaps doesn’t like fish.”

This last part is above and beyond the call of duty but the kind of information that Glady and Fran routinely pass on to drivers.

“Their generosity in offering to take a route if a driver didn’t show up or to adjust the schedule to accommodate volunteer’s plans was no big deal. They both maintained such a positive disposition no matter what the request or the question. They handled client comments with dignity and respect and were never rattled by unpredictable occurrences. Their only priority was the well-being of each client. While Fran and Glady not only succeeded as leaders in MOW delivery process they also were effective in the business of human relationships with clients and volunteers. Is it any wonder it is going to take more than two persons to replace them?”

Of course there are other board members who have done it all. Fran recognizes Mary Foley who recruited her in 1976 and Kathy Briggs was likely on the board then and has headed the phone committee for years. Also, Fran calls Jan Stubbs a “real saint” for being treasurer for 15 years, it is a HUGE job. Billings are every month and include regular clients and those who temporarily cancel or quit. Fran mentions Patty Bowman who has done lots of duties and is now assuming the challenge of getting MOW online and streamlined. Sheryl Thomas led MOW through changes when Community Nursing stopped operating. Fran has churned out a monthly calendar of 90 drivers to cover the routes. Recalling hundreds of volunteers is impossible; those mentioned are just a few.

Glady has worked closely with Fran and she says “driving with ‘MOWs’ is very rewarding. We enjoy the clients, get to know the drivers, and face all kinds of challenges that are not too formidable as we do our routes. We deal with clients at all economic levels. We drive in rain and snow. We miss our special clients when they finally drop off the routes for various reasons, but some folks stay with use for years and years.” Glady also remembers the wonderful food and nutrition staff at Central Iowa Healthcare (formerly MMSC) who dealt with dishing out daily meals for our three routes.

The 75 route drivers are the heart and soul of MOW. A single route consists of one trip per month and we all marvel at the fact that many have been serving for 30-40 years and seldom miss an assignment.

At the July 9, 2015 board meeting, MOW will install a new committee system devised by Abby Kersbergen and a Study Committee. Our web site is www.mealsonwheelsofmarshalltown.com. The new president will be Kathy McCune (641-752-9589) if you want to volunteer and new vice president and chairwoman of the scheduling committee is Andrea Nixon (641-475-3345). Iowa Home Care is 752-5545.

Volunteerism is alive and well and good news for Marshalltown.

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The Meals on Wheels Board crafted this guest editorial.