metro

Homebound from page 8

with offering a friendly face to check in on
someone who likely is very isolated.
"I started as a driver and often I was
the only person they would see during
the day," Miller said. "This program helps
people stay in their homes and feel viable.
It helps the elderly manage life without
feeling displaced."

Moving Those Meals
Starting around 7 a.m., volunteers arrive
to set up organized groups of large paper
bags on the dining tables. Each bag has a
last name and route number written on
the outside. The cold lunches are deposit-
ed first in the bags: slices of bread, cheese,
containers of juice or milk, some sort of
salad and fresh fruit. Shmoozing accom-
panies the work and, during lapses in
activity, volunteers sit for a while. Thirty
packers are needed each week.
But when the hot food is ready in the
kitchen, volunteers jump into action. An
assembly line forms as the traditional
hot Shabbat meal is portioned out into
plastic containers with divided sections.
The kitchen smells like Shabbat. The
volunteers work efficiently, with each din-
ner container heat-sealed in plastic and a
sticker bearing a participant's name and
request is affixed carefully by Sam Havis.
"I put my blessing on each one he said
with a smile.
Jeff Rosenberg supervises the kosher
meals as a cook and moshgiach for the
local Council of Orthodox Rabbis. He has
worked with Meals on Wheels for 20 years,
and banters easily with the volunteers.
Dave Dry, executive chef for Morrison
Senior Dining, which handles the kosher
meals at Prentis, has worked with MOW
for 13 years. The pair say it's rewarding to
provide the good, hearty meals.
The sealed Shabbat dinners, along with
containers of hot soup, are placed on trays
and taken to be packed in the bags. Once
they are secure, everyone helps transfer
the bags to cars so the drivers can begin
deliveries. A dozen drivers are needed
each weekday to cover 12 routes.
The volunteer packers chat a while
longer, then leave the three Friday chairs
to talk with Richard Emmer, Meals on
Wheels coordinator and the only paid
staffer of the program.
Chair Joanne Aronovitz of Huntington
Woods has volunteered with MOW for 16
years. For her, it's always been a family
venture, either volunteering with her hus-
band's aunt, her mother, father, father-in-
law, even her husband's grandfather.
Amy Ergas, the third chair, started
volunteering 12 years ago after learning
about the program at a mitzvah fair she
attended with her daughter. She delivered
meals for many years, then was "promoted
to management."
Ergas and her family lived in Holland
for a year while her husband was on sab-
batical. She was sure to fit MOW into her

10

schedule again when she returned.
"Out of so many activities, the one thing
I missed doing while I was away was this:'
she said. "I get a nice feeling from it. On
Shabbat, I feel I did at least one good thing
this week."

At The Doorstep
Drivers tend to establish routines and
relationships with participants on their
routes. Some want their meals placed in
coolers outside their doors; others prefer
help transporting the food to the kitchen.
Occasionally a driver will be asked to
change a light bulb or take out the trash.
Some participants welcome conversation
or a little hug; others say a simple thank
you and close the door.
Regardless, a driver is a first-line of
contact for participants, all of whom are
evaluated by a social worker from Jewish

Richard Emmer

Amy Ergas

Above: Traditional

Shabbat dinners

sealed and ready to be
packed

Left: Ellen Magar of Oak

Park and Sara Manson

of Southfield pack

lunches.

Below: Sam and

Florence Havis of

Southfield seal bags

bound for delivery.

Family Service to determine if they qual-
ify, how much they can pay for meals and
if they need other services. Five days of
delivered lunches and dinners costs $58,
but the cost adjusts on a sliding scale.
Sylvia and Wally Kinzer of West
Bloomfield have used the service since she
got out of rehab after a fall caused a frac-
ture in her spine more than a year ago.
"I tried to cook, but I couldn't stand that
long," she said. "You don't know how much
I appreciate this service. Its fabulous. It
saved my life."
She and her husband grew up in kosher
homes, and their home has always been
kosher. "It is very important to me to get

Homebound on page 12

