Champions Deliver Meals
March 14, 2018
Local Professionals Help With Community Day
HARRISONBURG — When she’s got company, Matilda Good has a smile on her face.
Especially if it’s Cheryl Shull, her Meals on Wheels case manager.
“It’s like somebody cares about you,” Good said.
Good shared that smile Tuesday as Valley Program for Aging Services showcased the food delivery program.
The 71-year-old was beaming as her delivery arrived courtesy of Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed, WSVA’s Jim Britt and Laura Toni-Holsinger, executive director of the United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.
“You’ve got some celebrities up in here with you today,” Reed said as she embraced Good in a hug.
Good is among 296 people in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County who benefit from Meals on Wheels, which provides food to homebound older adults.
On Tuesday, nine local professionals from the public and private sectors made the deliveries as part of the 16th annual March for Meals Community Champions Day.
“This is a time of year that we really work hard to draw attention to the issue of senior hunger and isolation,” said Beth Bland, VPAS director of senior services. “This is a very serious issue, not just across the nation, but right here in our own backyard.”
Bland said the program provided more than 37,000 meals in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County last year. City recipients typically get five hot meals a week, while people who live in remote areas of the county receive a month’s supply of frozen meals.
Wayne Harold of Montezuma joined the deliveries with his trusty sidekick, Zeke, a chocolate Lab.
Harold, who regularly volunteers for the program, didn’t want to take the day off.
“I decided ... I was going to give back,” he said as the group dispersed from Harrisonburg First Church of the Brethren and volunteers headed throughout the city.
Good has received deliveries for about a year and said it’s an essential service.
“It helps me out a lot because I’m in pain a lot and it’s hard for me to carry my groceries in a lot of times,” she said.
The program is offered at no charge, which is important to Good, who has diabetes. Her doctors told her to eat six small meals a day rather than three large ones.
“I can’t afford all that,” she said. “If I didn’t have the Meals on Wheels, I’d have to do without a lot of the time.”
As Reed, Britt and Toni-Holsinger bid adieu to Good, she sent them well wishes for the chilly morning deliveries.
“I hope you get warmed up,” she told Reed.
“Me, too,” Reed assured her, adding, “and if I don’t, I’m coming back.”
Contact Nolan Stout at 574-6278 or nstout@dnronline.com
Matilda Good (left), 71, of Harrisonburg, meets Mayor Deanna Reed when she delivered her Meals on Wheels Tuesday morning.
FROM LEFT: Volunteers Gloria Conley of Harrisonburg, Anne Knupp of Bridgewater, Teresa Smith of Harrisonburg and Cheryl Shull, a case manager with Valley Program for Aging Services, package hot meals for Meals on Wheels Tuesday morning.
United Way Executive Director Laura Toni-Holsinger volunteers for delivery of Meals on Wheels Tuesday morning as part of the Communion Champion Days to help raise awareness of senior hunger and isolation.
- By NOLAN STOUT Daily News-Record Mar 13, 2018
HARRISONBURG — When she’s got company, Matilda Good has a smile on her face.
Especially if it’s Cheryl Shull, her Meals on Wheels case manager.
“It’s like somebody cares about you,” Good said.
Good shared that smile Tuesday as Valley Program for Aging Services showcased the food delivery program.
The 71-year-old was beaming as her delivery arrived courtesy of Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed, WSVA’s Jim Britt and Laura Toni-Holsinger, executive director of the United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.
“You’ve got some celebrities up in here with you today,” Reed said as she embraced Good in a hug.
Good is among 296 people in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County who benefit from Meals on Wheels, which provides food to homebound older adults.
On Tuesday, nine local professionals from the public and private sectors made the deliveries as part of the 16th annual March for Meals Community Champions Day.
“This is a time of year that we really work hard to draw attention to the issue of senior hunger and isolation,” said Beth Bland, VPAS director of senior services. “This is a very serious issue, not just across the nation, but right here in our own backyard.”
Bland said the program provided more than 37,000 meals in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County last year. City recipients typically get five hot meals a week, while people who live in remote areas of the county receive a month’s supply of frozen meals.
Wayne Harold of Montezuma joined the deliveries with his trusty sidekick, Zeke, a chocolate Lab.
Harold, who regularly volunteers for the program, didn’t want to take the day off.
“I decided ... I was going to give back,” he said as the group dispersed from Harrisonburg First Church of the Brethren and volunteers headed throughout the city.
Good has received deliveries for about a year and said it’s an essential service.
“It helps me out a lot because I’m in pain a lot and it’s hard for me to carry my groceries in a lot of times,” she said.
The program is offered at no charge, which is important to Good, who has diabetes. Her doctors told her to eat six small meals a day rather than three large ones.
“I can’t afford all that,” she said. “If I didn’t have the Meals on Wheels, I’d have to do without a lot of the time.”
As Reed, Britt and Toni-Holsinger bid adieu to Good, she sent them well wishes for the chilly morning deliveries.
“I hope you get warmed up,” she told Reed.
“Me, too,” Reed assured her, adding, “and if I don’t, I’m coming back.”
Contact Nolan Stout at 574-6278 or nstout@dnronline.com
Matilda Good (left), 71, of Harrisonburg, meets Mayor Deanna Reed when she delivered her Meals on Wheels Tuesday morning.
FROM LEFT: Volunteers Gloria Conley of Harrisonburg, Anne Knupp of Bridgewater, Teresa Smith of Harrisonburg and Cheryl Shull, a case manager with Valley Program for Aging Services, package hot meals for Meals on Wheels Tuesday morning.
United Way Executive Director Laura Toni-Holsinger volunteers for delivery of Meals on Wheels Tuesday morning as part of the Communion Champion Days to help raise awareness of senior hunger and isolation.
