MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Nicole Kincy was ready to pack up and roll out.
She had eight deliveries that day, and she knew her seniors were waiting.
She said she was excited to get them the food they need.
“I can guarantee you after you interact with the clients and seniors you’ll feel rewarded and you’ll want to do it again and again,” Kincy said.
She told WREG that feeling is why she has volunteered the last two years.
She said she delivers 8 or 9 meals twice a month on her route.
Her first stop that day was to the home of 98-year-old Ms. Annie Murrell.
On this visit, MIFA even sent along cat food for Murrell’s constant companions.
“I’m a small part of her life and she’s certainly a part of mine,” said Kincy.
Next, WREG met Arnetta Stanton Macklin, who oversees Meals on Wheels at MIFA.
She took us behind the scenes where workers start prepping and cooking the food bright and early each morning.
Twelve hundred meals are prepared and packaged each day for seniors in their homes and at several sites around the city.
“The program is not based on income; it’s based on nutritional need of the senior,” said Macklin.
There’s a meat, a vegetable and a dessert.
A complete meal fully cooked and ready to heat and serve, or in some cases, ready to eat.
Macklin said those few moments a volunteer spends with the senior could be vital to their survival.
“A lot of times our volunteers bring back so much information to let us know what’s going on in the home of the senior,” she said. “If I can change a light bulb, or move a desk or a chair or something, any small thing I can do to help. It doesn’t take a lot of time.”
They said the job does take a lot of compassion.
“I deliver the meal but what I get in return is encouragement from our seniors. They always let me know they appreciate the program,” she said.
That day, Kincy was done with her route in about an hour.
An hour that made a lifetime of difference for you and a senior.
