Weathering the storm: Meals on Wheels gets extra help

An emergency relief group with four-wheel-drive vehicles came in Tuesday to deliver Meals on Wheels due to the threat of severe weather.

"Whenever we have really bad weather like this, because so many of our volunteers are elderly, we ask them to volunteer to deliver the meals for us," said Diane Felt, director of nutrition services at Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital.

The group of volunteers was set up by Gene White several years ago and has continued since.

Jim and Sally Hargrove have volunteered as the relief drivers for the last four or five years.

"It's a good deal," Jim Hargrove said. "Probably, if we ever retire, we would be doing this regularly."

"It's fun to see the people," Sally Hargrove said. "We think it's a wonderful service."

Roger Cutsinger was volunteering for the first time. Although he had signed up some time back, this was the first time he was called to deliver meals.

Volunteers were delivering meals to 99 people Tuesday on 11 routes.

"We would probably have to cancel the meals on days when the clients really need them" if they didn't have these drivers, Felt said. "It's just a wonderful service and they all have very busy schedules and lives, and they take the time to do this. We really value the service.

"I think we're one of the few programs that has something like this."

El Dorado Times