There's No Place Like Home for Home Delivery Clients

Meet Roy Smith and Barbara Young, two of the growing number of homebound seniors served by the pantry’s Home Delivery program.  Once free to work and move around the community with mobility and ease, age and health issues make just getting out the door a significant challenge.

“Since you all have been bringing me food, I don’t have to go to the pantry.  Because I can’t carry it now, no way.  Your good people send me just enough for me to make it, and it’s nutritious and helps me to eat properly,” says Smith, age 76.  On his own now, with his wife in a nearby nursing home, Smith likes the grocery choices he’s offered over the phone, and says he needs all the protein he can get, to give him energy when he wakes up in the morning.  Chuckling, he adds, “When you get more tomatoes, cantaloupes and watermelon, add them to my list!”

Barbara Young worked for years doing billing and coding in the health care field, until forced to retire 4 years ago.  “Before you started delivering, my daughter-in-law went to distributions for me, but it was hard,” explains Young, adding, “your program saves me from stumbling around the store, because my legs aren’t going to take me there anymore.” 

She loves and appreciates that the program gives her the chance to get what she really needs, and lets some things, like the pasta, slide until next time.  Surrounded by her kids and most of her 5 grandsons, Young cooks in bulk, making meals she can freeze and eat later so she doesn’t have to cook every day.  Most items last her until the next delivery, except for peanut butter, a favorite treat she admits with a laughing smile, she just can’t seem to keep around long enough.