Marion Meals on Wheels celebrates 50 years of keeping the wheels rolling
Jun. 10—FAIRMONT — Marion Meals on Wheels celebrated its 50th anniversary with an appreciation dinner on Tuesday night at the Baptist Temple.
Meals on Wheels is an entirely volunteer-based organization that provides meals to the elderly, housebound or anyone unable to shop or properly prepare food for themselves. Meals are prepared at John Manchin Senior Health Care Center and delivered five days a week. The Marion Meals on Wheels delivers two routes on the East Side of Fairmont and three on the West Side of Fairmont.
During the 2022-2023 year, they had over 80 volunteers, who are all either retired bankers, teachers, administrators or social workers — from all walks of life, Marion Meals on Wheels President Dixie Yann said. All volunteers drive in teams of two in their own cars to deliver meals.
"I got hooked in and just fell in love with Meals on Wheels because it's a way to see the people that you're helping. That's my main reason to be here. ... You become friends with the people you deliver to," Yann said.
Yann added that despite the inflation rate, meals have gone from $1.20 per day to $3 per day and recently, thanks to donors, they have been able to lower the daily cost to $2.50 for clients.
Many volunteers said that they are sometimes the only person their clients see during the day, so clients get excited to see them. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, they have not been able to bring meals into their homes — they are delivered outside.
The appreciation dinner was catered by Sayboy's Restaurant. Guests ate and chatted with one another. They were also able to share some of their favorite memories from volunteering, which often ended with a room full of laughter.
Marion Meals on Wheels Vice President Tom Dragich said he was recruited like many volunteers were — right after retirement — by former President Skip Delligatti.
"I got to ride with Skip and Bill Barr. We'd be halfway through an intersection at a stop sign and Skip would say 'Anybody coming?' I would pull my seatbelt a lot tighter. He would play a recording of the Rosary. I said, 'Now I know why you're playing a recording of the Rosary, because we're going to end up in trouble," Dragich said.
Several other volunteers shared fun and heart-warming memories from their time spent with Marion Meals on Wheels before the dinner concluded.
Marion Meals on Wheels Inc. developed from a meeting in the early 1970s into a committee on Feb. 5, 1973. The first meals were delivered to 14 people from Fairmont General Hospital (now Fairmont Medical Center) on June 15, 1973, and a second food pick-up site, Fairmont Emergency Hospital (now John Manchin Sr. Healthcare Center), on Aug. 5, 1974. Many current members who were a part of the initial meeting said they did not think the organization would last 50 years, but they're proud it has.
"It's been a long, long time. I think it took us three years to get started. ... But, it was a good time and we didn't think it would last this long," Lucy Eates said.
Eates and her husband Tony served as volunteer drivers until 2016.
Yann, who was also present during the first meeting, shared similar sentiments.
"I mean I know it's true, but I just can't believe it's been 50 years," Yann said.
Reach Savanna Shriver at sshriver@timeswv.com or 304-367-2549.
