Hastings legend 'Miss Wolfe,' 93, lifts seniors with 'food, a smile and a kind word'

In Hastings, a St. Johns County hamlet of about 600 people, most people know Mary Alice Wolfe.

She either taught their parents or grandparents in the third grade over the course of her 44-year education career or delivered food and human contact to their homebound elder relatives, an endeavor she has undertaken regularly since 2001. Last week, she helped bring special Thanksgiving meals to them too.

On Nov. 29, the beloved Hastings legend turns 94.

"I've been lucky. I've been fortunate to have good health," she said.

And Hastings has been fortunate to have her.

Johnny Barnes, retired restaurant owner and caterer, was one of her third-graders and has stayed in touch over the years. He now connects with Wolfe every two weeks when he delivers produce from Pie in the Sky, a nonprofit working to end senior hunger in St. Johns County, to her church, Christ United Methodist, for inclusion in their food deliveries.

"I don't care who I see around Hastings, they'll say, 'She was my third-grade teacher too.' Everybody," he said. "She was inspiring, stern but fair. She taught you your multiplication tables."

And if a student from a poor family did not have the 15 cents needed for a notebook, she would quietly see to it that the child got the notebook, Barnes said.

"That's just who she is," he said.

Wolfe's pastor, David McFarland, said the same thing.

"It's not what she does, it's who she is," he said.

Food deliveries support 'deprived community'

Miss Alice, as locals call her even though she was once married long ago, retired from teaching in 1994. "I decided it was just time. People said I'd know when I was ready and I was," she said.

Her 22-year meal delivery volunteer career began a few years later when she volunteered for Meals on Wheels. Later, she and a few friends delivered to homebound seniors for Pie in the Sky's Hastings food pantry. After the pantry closed, her church bought food and kept deliveries going to the same group.

Then this year she saw Barnes' name in a Times-Union story about community response to a Pie in the Sky egg fundraiser. She got in touch with him to ask if the nonprofit could provide produce for her church's 25 still-going food delivery clients, most of them younger than her 93 years.

Now she and Barnes meet every two weeks over produce.

Wolfe said she is slowing down a bit now because her mobility and balance "are not what they used to be." These days, she typically stays in the car while her delivery mate takes food to recipients' doors or inside. Sometimes they come outside for a chat with Wolfe; others she visits with by phone when she calls to remind them of an upcoming delivery.

It's all about caring for people, however you can, she said.

"They are so appreciative, it makes you feel so good," Wolfe said. "They can't thank you enough."

If not for the deliveries and chats, they might have no human interaction, not enough food and certainly no Thanksgiving meal.

"This is a deprived community. There is no supermarket, just a corner store. People don't have transportation or aren't able to get out and drive," she said.

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Sheila Bateman, 68, is one of the seniors who comes outside to chat with Wolfe. She is largely homebound and counts on the food — and the conversation.

People who are on fixed incomes, like her, often can't afford fresh food even if they can get to a store, she said. So the potatoes, eggs, broccoli, zucchini and squash Wolfe and her delivery mate bring are precious, she said. If she gets sweet potatoes, which she doesn't particularly like, she gives them to a neighbor.

Bateman looks forward to seeing Wolfe, who has been delivering to her for a few years.

"She's a very sweet elderly lady, a real good Christian. We talk about the Bible," she said. "I ask how she's doing, she asks how I'm doing."

Bateman is impressed by Wolfe's longevity. "She's still going," she said.

Senior need is growing in St. Johns

Malea Guiriba, founder and director of Pie in the Sky, said Wolfe calling Barnes about produce was one example of how "things come full circle."

Fifteen years ago, Barnes helped Pie in the Sky get off the ground by allowing Guiriba to sell pies at his restaurant. They reconnected after he read a Feb. 12 Florida Times-Union story about the nonprofit's fundraising campaign to provide suddenly expensive eggs for local seniors on fixed incomes. He donated to the cause, volunteered and recently began using Pie in the Sky's leftover produce to make soup, which is also delivered to seniors.

Now because of Wolfe and Barnes' connection, the church and its delivery volunteers have also "returned to the fold" of Pie in the Sky, Guiriba said.

"As we approach our 15th year, I have found so many things are coming full circle," she said. "I mean Johnny and the eggs and now the soup. I started with him all those years ago, selling pie by the slice in the space next door to his cafe. And now along comes Miss Wolfe, taking us all the way back to our roots at the food pantry. It's like it was all meant to be.

This is how a community comes together, she said. "If a 93-year-old woman can continue to help deliver food to her neighbors in need, why can't we all?"

Pie in the Sky currently serves 620 St. Johns County seniors, a 19% increase since the beginning of the year. But the need is growing and the client list is expected to near 650 by year's end, she said.

"Senior hunger and social isolation remain one of the biggest social determinants of health facing us today," Guiriba said. "We can't ignore it. We can't pretend it doesn't exist. At Pie in the Sky, we are committed to creating awareness about this issue and walking the walk, doing something about it."

MacFarland, Wolfe's pastor, said the church's Pie in the Sky-supplemented food deliveries go to homebound seniors who are not being served by other sources. They are "mostly non-church members," just people the church knows about who need help, he said.

The program is an "incredible … acted prayer for the glory of God," he said.

The 100 or so Pie in the Sky volunteers deliver fresh produce, nonperishable food items, other essential items and a bit of socializing to them every two weeks. The week before Thanksgiving, their deliveries also included sliced, packaged turkey and all the holiday trimmings, provided for all 620 clients by Winn-Dixie.

Bozard Ford also made a donation "toward this massive endeavor," Guiriba said.

"Being able to provide this complete meal this Thanksgiving is a Pie in the Sky dream come true," she said. "We have been doing some variation of this for years but never the complete meal and certainly never for 620 seniors."

Winn-Dixie is also contributing volunteers for the delivery team.

"It is always a meaningful experience," Guiriba said, citing a client's response to a recent delivery. "She said, 'I was feeling so low today and then all of you came to my door. Suddenly I don't feel so low anymore. It means the world to know there is someone who cares about me.' This is why we say it is about so much more than food."

Lifetime 'habit of helping'

Wolfe plans to continue being a part of food deliveries "as long as I can," she said. And she will try to continue to remember all the people who remember her, although she is not always successful.

"It's kind of scary sometimes," she said, citing expectations that she has total recall of former students. "The children I've taught have grown up."

She's part of all their life stories.

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"There is kind of a special touch to her," Barnes said. "She is a very private person. Doesn't boast or brag."

Wolfe has a lifetime "habit of helping," Guiriba said. "Can you imagine having this 93-year-old woman show up … with food and a smile and a kind word? I can only imagine how much it means to some of these very lonely and isolated seniors. The gift those seniors receive in the form of Miss Wolfe, it's magical. It's humbling. It is inspirational and it is compassion in its truest form."

She does what she does because she knows people need it, she said. "It's just that simple. It's what you do."

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Senior hunger: St. Johns woman, 93, brings food, joy to poor elders