that everyone gets their meals,
” she
said.
During COVID-19, Hepner says
demand for the meals dramatically
increased, sometimes to 160 deliveries
a day from the current average of 95,
as older people were so frequently con-
fined to their homes. Despite volunteers
dealing with their own home-life concerns,
there was never a day that deliveries were
missed because of a lack of
helpers to fill the 75 volunteer
slots a week.
“Many times, we were the
only people our clients were
seeing during the week,
” she
adds, noting that the rela-
tionship between volunteers
and clients is often reciprocal. “
As I now
substitute for regular drivers, when people
see me, they are always concerned about
their usual volunteer, wanting to check that
nothing is wrong with them,
” she says. “It’s
very heartwarming.
”
FILLING A NEED
When NCJW|MI was founded in Detroit
in 1891, its purpose was to find a need in
the community and plug that need with
volunteers and programs. So, in 1973,
when Sonia Macy, president of the then-
named National Council of Jewish Women,
Greater Detroit Section, saw a need to assist
older adults in their homes by providing
healthy meals, she and her fellow volunteers
jumped right in. Working in conjunction
with JFS and Jewish Senior Life (JSL),
then called Jewish Apartments and
Services, a vital program for Jewish
senior adults was born. At that
point, JFS did the intake and case
management, and NCJW contracted
with JSL
’s food providers to prepare
the meals, with volunteers working to
package each meal tray and then deliver it
to approximately 200 seniors daily.
For more than three decades, NCJW|MI
volunteers ran the operation with day
chairs and an overall chair for the program.
Then, in 2008, NCJW|MI hired the first
Meals on Wheels coordinator to work with
the volunteers. Today, the program is run
by NCJW|MI and JFS of Metro Detroit,
with the Kosher Meals on Wheels coordi-
nator working closely with the volunteers
who pack and deliver approximately 35,000
meals per year to 12 routes around town.
The operation is based at The J in West
Bloomfield, and Epic Kosher Catering is
contracted to provide the meals. Volunteers
arrive at 7 a.m. to start packing meals for
MAY 2 • 2024 | 9
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continued on page 10
RIGHT:
Packing for Meals on
Wheels in the 1970s.
FAR RIGHT:
Babs Kaufman,
Ellen Labes, Dorothy
Kaufman, Rosie
Schlussel and Sheila
Guyer at a volunteer
appreciation lunch
mid 1980s.
BELOW:
Packing for Meals on
Wheels in the early days.
“THE PROGRAM IS ALLOWING PEOPLE TO STAY IN THEIR HOMES
AS LONG AS THEY WANT, BUT IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE FOOD.
SEEING A FRIENDLY SMILE ENHANCES THEIR LIVES AND
MAKES A VERY BIG DIFFERENCE.”
— LINDA GREENFIELD
Evva
Hepner