VOLUNTEERS COMMITTED TO SEEING THAT THE MEALS GO THROUGH

At 11 a.m. on any given weekday, a group of people can be seen clustered high on the hill outside the kitchen of Southeast Missouri Hospital. These are Meals on Wheels volunteers who are waiting to deliver hot, nutritious noon meals to anyone within the city limits who is unable to prepare a meal or has no one else to do so.

About 18,000 meals are delivered annually by volunteers representing 24 Cape Girardeau churches, hospital auxiliary and Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society Alliance. Overseeing the program is an advisory board of community representatives, Southeast Missouri Hospital Auxiliary members, Southeast's Food and Nutrition Services director and Home Health/Hospice director.

A prospective meals recipient is anyone, regardless of age, who is unable to prepare a meal due to the infirmities of age, convalescence from surgery or illness, or visual, physical, mental or other disabilities.

Admission to the program is by doctor referral so that the appropriate diet is prepared for each participant. Admissions are scheduled by calling Southeast Missouri Hospital at 651-6800.

The cost is $2 per day, or Food Stamps may be used. Meals are ordered a week at a time and paid for in advance, weekly or monthly. In hardship cases, program sponsors try to arrange for financial assistance.

The program is self-supporting, and aid in the form of identification of prospective recipients, sponsorship of needy recipients or financial contributions to the general operating fund and meal delivery is always welcome.

"Sometimes Sunday School classes will sponsor a recipient if he doesn't have money to pay," said Nancy Bray, interim coordinator of Meals on Wheels. "The Rotary Club has helped financially," Bray said. "We are always looking for sponsors."

Bray is also marketing director at Southeast Hospital.

Southeast Assistant Administrator Richard Meyer noted that the impressive thing about the program is that it operates without government funding. Although some paid staff has always been necessary for administrative and meal preparation tasks, the program is made possible by volunteers. Meyer noted that during a year, it takes these volunteers to operate the Meals on Wheels program: 10 advisory committee members, eight auxiliary volunteers to schedule churches, provide instructions to drivers and process the weekly collection envelopes, 24 church/Cape County area medical society auxiliary coordinators and 2,120 drivers and deliverers. He estimated that in a year's time, a minimum of 6,500 hours goes into operation of the program.

In 1992 the program received the Bell Volunteer Award, presented by Southwestern Bell to volunteers across the nation as a tribute to individuals who donate their time to serve others at the grass roots level.

The local Meals on Wheels program began in 1974. Ann Limbaugh, a member of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Auxiliary, heard about such a program in Jefferson City. She enlisted the support of Kay Newman, who at that time was the president of the hospital auxiliary, and the late Libby Oliver, who was also a member of the auxiliary and an avid community worker. The three women joined forces in asking local churches and organizations for support, and the program began with seven participants.

From 1974 to 1990, the Cape County Chapter of the American Red Cross provided administrative assistance. In 1990 it became necessary for the Red Cross to withdraw from the program, and now scheduling of recipients and preparation of daily delivery is done by Southeast's Regional Home Health Service.

Libby Oliver was coordinator of the program from its inception until her death in 1989. At that time, Paul and Mary Lou Bray, who had been active in the program since 1980, took over the reins. The couple recently decided that it is time for someone else to coordinate the program.

In their many years of working with Meals on Wheels, the Brays have encountered many different kinds of experiences, ranging from emergencies to joyous thanks from recipients.

"Once when we went to deliver a meal, a lady was standing at the door with her storm door locked," recalled Paul Bray. "I motioned her to go to her back door, but we could not get it open. I left and delivered my other meals and returned to find the meal still sitting there. The lady's son was out of town for the day, and we finally reached him. This episode caused him to realize how ill his mother was and he took action to get appropriate care for her."

Bray remembers a recipient who was most impressed with the National Guard, whose members deliver meals in extremely bad weather. A member of the guard tracked mud and snow into a woman's home as he delivered her meal. He told her that he would return and clean her floor after he delivered the other meals. He did indeed come back and clean the floor, and the recipient called the hospital to inform coordinators of her appreciation of the good deed.

Bray said that his confidence in young people was bolstered recently when Georganne Syler's community nutrition class at Southeast Missouri State University helped deliver meals. "I just turned the trays over to the students and the recipients loved them," he said.

"This was a good experience for my students because they were able to see beyond their own needs," Syler said. "A number of the students also work in dietetics at the hospital, putting food together. It didn't mean anything to them until they saw the recipients. It gave them another insight into not only nutrition but the importance of human contact. They didn't realize what an incredibly bright spot in the day of the recipient that the visit brings and truly that the food is secondary."

Edna Rogers, volunteer for First Presbyterian Church, also noted the appreciation when the meals are delivered. "Many days we are the only people that they see," she explained. "As I hit the door, I start chatting. This program is one of the best things that we do in Cape so far as helping people. I know various people on the program now who could not stay in their own home if they could not have their own special diet served. They are so grateful for the service."

Volunteers from First Presbyterian and other large churches deliver meals three weeks out of the year. Some smaller churches combine forces for their assigned weeks. Mary Regenhardt, volunteer for Christ Episcopal Church, explained that Christ and St. Mark Lutheran churches share the work.

"We could not find enough people during our week because so many people work," she said. "During our weeks, we divide the routes. We deliver twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall."

Volunteers Patti Lessmann and Helen Hammond call church offices to remind them of their time to deliver.

"If drivers forget and don't show, we still find a way -- other volunteers, Home Health employees or employees of the hospital," Nancy Bray said.

No matter who delivers the meals, the meals and goodwill get through.