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“Together, we’ve had 100 years of feeding people,” Mitch Kornfeld, co-owner of the Woodlands, said Monday afternoon as he handed a large facsimile of a $1,000 check to Cornelia “Corny” Romanowski, president of Meals on Wheels of Wyoming Valley.
The Meals on Wheels program, which operates out of the kitchen of the Church of Christ Uniting in Kingston, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year — as is the Woodlands — so it was especially meaningful that the Woodlands helped Meals on Wheels kick off a $50,000 fund-raising campaign that, organizers hope, will ensure the wheels keep turning to bring food to the homebound.
“We bring more than food,” said RoseMarie Panzitta, who has served the organization as a driver since 1972. “Sometimes we’re the only person (the clients) see for the whole day, or the whole week.”
“We’re thrilled” with the Woodlands’ donation, Panzitta added.
“It’s wonderful,” Romanowski said.
“Anytime the Woodlands can get involved with the community,” Kornfeld said, “we like to pay it forward.”
“I got a haircut for this,” he quipped as photographers shot the check presentation.
Unlike the Meals on Wheels programs in some other community, Meals on Wheels of Wyoming Valley receives no government grants or subsidies. Each client pays $6 daily for two meals — a hot entree, starch, vegetable and bread that serves as the main meal, plus a cold lunch of a sandwich, fruit and dessert.
Food prices have risen and Meals on Wheels loses more than a dollar on each of the 80 to 85 meals its volunteer drivers and runners deliver daily, but the board doesn’t want to raise the prices the clients pay.
Hence the need for the fund drive, which is asking local businesses to contribute $1,000 toward the 50th anniversary goal and also appealing to members of the community, who have been making donations in the $10 to $100 range.
The community appeal will continue through the summer and fall, spokeswoman Judy Daly said, and will culminate in a 50th anniversary reception, to be held at the Woodlands on Oct. 23.
The reception will honor the Rev. Anita Ambrose, who served as a volunteer on the first day of delivery, Jan. 27, 1969, and it will honor Rose Marie Panzitta and Ruth Gavenus, who have been volunteers for 47 and 48 years, respectively.
The program has three employees — a coordinator and two cooks “who do a wonderful job,” Romanowski said. More than 50 volunteer drivers use their own vehicles to deliver the meals — a total of 19,935 in 2018 — to Ashley, Dallas, Edwardsville, Forty Fort, Hanover Township, Hudson, Kingston, Larksville, Lee Park, Luzerne, Miners Mills, Nanticoke, Parsons, Plains, Plymouth, Shavertown, Swoyersville, West Wyoming to the Midway Shopping Center, Wilkes-Barre and Wilkes-Barre Township.
While there is no age or income requirement, the vast majority of the meals are delivered to senior citizens. Meals on Wheels of Wyoming Valley serves the homebound, those with chronic conditions or those recovering from an accident, an illness, hospitalization or rehabilitation.
Donations from individuals, families or in memory of someone may be sent to Meals on Wheels of Wyoming Valley, 190 South Sprague Ave., Kingston PA. 18704. For more information, contact coordinator Amy Morris at 570-288-1023.
And, if you want to help the Woodlands celebrate its 50th anniversary, circle June 21 on your calendar. The gala is set for 6 to 8 p.m. that day.
