Happy New Year! Wishing all of you a very happy and healthy 2022! As I’m writing this newsletter, it is cold, cold, cold!
But the good news is that we’re increasing our home delivered service to 4 days a week, tentatively effective January
10th, contingent on the enough volunteers. The new year is off to a good start at least in that regard.
We’ve just completed our Holiday Gift Program for the year. I think the Holiday Gift Program is incredibly special, and
I’d like to think that it truly represents what we try to achieve at Meals on Wheels and the ideals we hold. We want our
seniors and our community to know that we care about them and are willing to work hard to serve them in the best way we can. This giant project also highlights the teamwork it takes to provide customized gifts to over 300 clients, exactly as it takes teamwork to provide meals to seniors throughout Benton & Franklin Counties, with no waiting list!
There are so many people who worked to make the Holiday Gift Program a success again, and every one of them
played a critical role in this giant project
– Mary & Joan Kessner & their team who organize and administer this program,
– The many folks who contribute gifts, cash, & gift cards for our seniors,
– Our volunteers who load up their car with meals AND extras AND gifts for our clients,
– Our staff who juggle their many duties to field phone calls and get the right gifts to the right locations at the right time.
We are grateful to each person who helped with this project, and we hope that the gifts helped make the holidays special for every recipient! We’ve heard from many of our seniors who received gifts, and we thank them for taking the time to call or write to express their appreciation.
As we head into another year of COVID-19 restrictions, I want to say a special thank you to all the volunteers and staff
who continue to serve during this exhausting time in history. They persevere in order to serve their community, and it is absolutely my privilege to work alongside these amazing paid and volunteer staff. They are exactly the sort of people I aspire to be in 2022!
