Earl Standridge earns state honor for volunteer work

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A Sikeston man's weekly visits to local homebound residents make all the difference to them, and it's earned him recognition from the state's lieutenant governor.

Every Wednesday morning, Earl Standridge spends about two and a half hours delivering meals to 42 homebound residents in Sikeston and Morehouse, Missouri, through the Meals on Wheels program.

"Last winter when the snow was on the ground, I delivered the meals, and the elderly ladies thanked me for it and said, 'If you hadn't delivered, I wouldn't have had anything to eat,'" Standridge recalls.

Knowing he's helped others and can make a difference in others' lives makes him feel good, he says.

He was among four senior volunteers from Southeast Missouri honored with the 2016 Lieutenant Governor's Senior Service Award by Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder. Other Southeast Missouri honorees were Gene Bilbrey of Williamsville, Michael Clark of Ironton and Richard Rich of Poplar Bluff.

Earl Standridge, center, shakes hands with Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, left, as Sen. Wayne Wallingford looks on during the 2016 Senior Service Award Ceremony on May 4 in Jefferson City, Missouri. (submitted photo)

Kinder presented the awards May 4 at a ceremony in the House Lounge of the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City. The ceremony followed a luncheon for the winners and their guests outside Kinder's office in the Capitol.

Standridge was in attendance and received an official declaration and a Senior Service Award lapel pin at the awards ceremony. He says he learned about the honor through a letter from Kinder he received in the mail.

Standridge, who was nominated by Lisa Hicks, assistant area supervisor of the OAKS Center in Sikeston, also volunteers by calling bingo games and fundraising at the Sikeston center.

"Earl has delivered all three routes in a week for us at times and used his four-wheel-drive vehicle to do it in the bad winter weather," Hicks says.

Standridge also donates the use of his truck and trailer to pick up food for the center from the Southeast Missouri Food Bank, Hicks says.

Earl Standridge, a volunteer at the Sikeston OAKS Nutrition Center, prepares to deliver a package of meals to a Meals on Wheels homebound recipient in Sikeston. Standridge was the recipient of a 2016 Lieutenant Governor's Senior Service Award. (Photo by Leonna Heuring)

"He has done some repairs on things and donated desperately needed items for the center," Hicks says. "He does a great many things for many people at the center and in the community."

The weekly dropping off of meals to elderly residents may be the only contact some of them receive, Standridge says.

"I always knock," he says. "If they're not home, I knock three times and give them time to get to the door before I leave."

Standridge, who worked in the maintenance department for Sikeston R-6 Schools and retired from the National Guard and the Army, says he tries to help as much as he can.

"Sometimes I carry the box in and put it on a table. I don't open the refrigerator, but I might set the box of meals on the table by the refrigerator so it's easy for them to get," he says.

Over the years, he's gotten to know the people on his route, and he says it's sad when he finds out one of them has died.

As the official senior advocate for Missouri, Kinder instituted the Senior Service Awards in 2005 to recognize and celebrate the contributions seniors make in their communities through volunteerism.

Kinder also praised Standridge.

"He also volunteers with veterans organizations, delivering thank-you cards to veterans at area nursing homes during Military Appreciation Month, and with the VFW and SEMO Military Preservation Group," Kinder stated. "In addition, Earl has worked on three Habitat for Humanity homes in Sikeston."

For Standridge, it's delivering meals to those who are homebound that he enjoys most.

"I'd been going to the OAKS on Fridays eating or through the week, and Lisa didn't have anyone to deliver meals to the homebound, so I thought I'd deliver them," he recalls. "I started delivering meals, and I enjoyed it and just kept doing it."