For homebound seniors, hot meal deliveries not only satisfy their hunger but also their thirst for social interaction. The visits are lifelines to needed nutrition and to food for the soul in the form of warm smiles and listening ears, as many people are no longer able to drive or can’t afford transportation.
So when a county government meal program in a small Wisconsin town cut back, meal site manager and St. Ambrose Council Member Linda M. stepped up.
“I had 80- and 90-year-old people look me in the eyes and say, ‘What are we going to do, Linda? We need to eat more than one day a week,’” she says.
When the county dropped two of its three weekly meal deliveries, Linda immediately filled the gap. She now cooks and serves several meals weekly. Some eat at the town hall together, others take meals to-go and those who are homebound get delivery.
Regardless, no one is turned away, and they all crave her country comfort cooking, from cabbage casserole to chop suey to ham and cheese pie.
“There are a lot of hungry, lonely people,” Linda says. “I just want them to have something to look forward to.”
Initially, Linda funded the program gap as she shopped and cooked, but her personal effort grew into something bigger. She partnered with local nonprofit Northwoods Community Assistance Coalition to help manage and sustain the program as well as with a nearby restaurant to provide a monthly meal.
“I put a lot of thought and prayer into this, and every weekend at church, I light a candle and ask for God’s help to be successful,” she says.
She also enlisted the help of her council, which generously donated $500 to the meal program. Linda has been a St. Ambrose Council member for over 25 years, previously as a youth leader and now as auditor. Through the council, she has helped host children’s parties, beautify the church campus, fundraise for religious education and more.
“I’ve always tried to help in one way or another,” she says. “Whatever the need is that crosses my path, that feels like my calling at the time.”
Linda can trace her life of service back to her childhood watching her parents serve from none other than their kitchen. “That’s how I was raised,” she says. “My dad started the pork roast dinner at our church in Green Bay, and my mom always cut up vegetables for our picnic in the summer.”
Linda has received over a dozen awards for her service, including the Diocese of Green Bay’s 2000 Catholic Woman of the Year and the 2011 Newark Archdiocesan Woman of Faith and Woman of Action award.
Her prayer is for all of us to grow in generosity: “The world would be a better place if everyone helped a little.”
