"Meals on Wheels".It`s such a cool thing guys, and I was introduced to it by no other than my husbands grandma, who is a volunteer for that programme, isn`t that funny?
Well, that alone said, I can tell you, you can learn a lot from older people!;-)
"Meals on Wheels" here in our area is basically a programme by "Volunteers of America", that aims to provide nutritious and healthy food to people who are (physically) unable to prepare their meals. The reasons are different. Some of the people are just old and not mobile, so they cannot go to a restaurant or cafe to eat something, most of them are simply living alone, and some of them are just financially really bad of and are more than happy to have a free hot and nutritious meal each day delivered to their doorstep.
The fun thing that I noticed when helping Grandma (which I just call Grandma from now on *lol*), is that these people often wait their whole day to see her. Some of them are so lonely that they are simply happy to talk to someone, and if someone asks about their life they are just so full of stories and you can literally see their smile when you knock at their door and they come opening it for you. Despite all the good stuff that you do and see, you do also see a lot of poverty and negative things, like I mentioned earlier before. Most of these people are sick or just really old, so they can not move properly or they live in houses that are, frankly, looking like a mess. But I guess that`s how it is with some people, and you cannot blame them, cause some of them really don`t have anyone at all and you are actually wondering how they are still able to live in that house and not in an assisted living place for example. You know what I am trying to say, right?
So my helping out made me realise that we are so well off and that we are still always complaining about all the small things that happen to be not so great in our life, but don`t focus enough on our health and our active social life. Most of us have a family to care about, most of us know how to cook pasta or how to buy a burger from a joint.
The people that I saw don`t and they need our help!
Please, if you happen to be at home while reading this blog and you don`t know what to do with your time, join that programme and help people, they will be more than grateful and that in the end that will make YOU feel grateful and good about your life. So it`s a win-win situation. You don`t get paid for that though, as it`s a voluntarily commitment. Though once committed you should always find enough time to actually drive around the route that you have been assigned to and deliver the meals to the people. Even if you are working part-time, this is seriously a thing to consider, it will improve your life-quality a lot, I assure you! There are young people, old people, all kinds of people who are volunteers and help out. You can do it every day, like an older man I saw, whose life is basically based around this programme and who made friends with people in need, or you can say " I will do it once a week", which is absolutely fine, too! As long as you do something, that`s awesome! And it usually takes you not longer than 2 hours. How often have you spent 2 hours on your couch watching some random and stupid TV show that made you feel worse and unimportant after all? See, I think everyone can relate to that and it`s worth thinking about.
My grandma has been active as a volunteer for quite some time now, so she knows the people that she delivers the meals to. Her community is really strong and like I mentioned earlier, there are people who made their hobby into their lives. It was just amazing to see all the love and be a part of it. I will definitely consider doing this some time soon.
I wish more people would do things without expecting anything back, because in fact you really don`t. The people that are in need do not have to pay a cent for that meal, unless you want to donate, than you are free to do that, of course.
Food is such an important and irreplaceable part of our lives and the majority takes it for granted
(fortunately, in a way) but it actually is a privilege. We are well off, some aren`t!
No one in this entire world should suffer from hunger! Yes there are maybe meals who look more inviting to us than the one you can see in the picture below, but that`s not the case!!! This programmes doesn`t let anyone starve just because he/she can no longer prepare a meal, and that´s what matters! What are you waiting for folks? Let`s do it!!
If you have a question about that programme or anything else that you found unanswered in my article, let me know in the comments below and I will be more than happy to give you a quick answer!
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