Paying it Forward: A Meals on Wheels Volunteer's Story

Marybeth Longo volunteers with the Waterbury Meals on Wheels program 5 days a week and helps with pretty much everything, including driving a route, kitchen prep, phone calls, cleaning and getting needed items at the store.  As she says, she “does whatever needs to be done” until 11 a.m. when it’s time to do the driving. 

She has been with the program for 4 years and started off by driving a route just a few hours a week.  When she started, she had just retired from 32 years at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and was “kind of at loose ends”, not knowing what to do with herself.  Her friend, who was director at Waterbury Area Senior Center let her know they were looking for volunteers and she thought, “I could do that.” 

Marybeth drives a route 3 days a week and talked about all of the special touches she adds for the clients.  Everyone’s name gets written on their bag of cold items, so it’s not just a generic bag.  For the bags with hot meals, they add bricks heated in the oven to keep the meals warm.  As Marybeth says, “my route can take 1.5 hours, so I want to make sure my last person has a hot meal.”  Notes are written on the bag about any special conditions the client has.  Marybeth also makes a point of saying what’s for lunch when she delivers, another simple way to connect with the clients.   

She has had the same route since day one, so she has gotten to know “her people” very well and feels very lucky for this.  Having grown up in Waterbury, it’s been fun for her to stay connected to people who she’s known in various capacities over the years.  People might recognize her or she might recognize them.  Her dad was a teacher and coached basketball so she will have clients whose children knew him.  One of her clients was her mom’s best friend.  As Marybeth says, “that’s what small town living is.”  She feels it’s really important to have a consistent route to develop relationships with your clients.  This allows you to see signs of any potential problems sooner than someone who doesn’t know them.   

To those who might be thinking about volunteering with Meals on Wheels, Marybeth emphasized how it doesn’t have to take up that much of your time, with some routes being only an hour, and how good it feels to pay it forward.  She says “I get to go out and do something that I really feel passionate about for my community…I just feel so lucky.” 

Meals on Wheels programs are always looking for volunteers and can find an opportunity to fit your schedule.  To find out more, contact us at [email protected].