SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services is looking for more volunteers to deliver meals with its Meals on Wheels Program.
Meals on Wheels delivers nutritious food and prepackaged meals to seniors five days a week and about half of the 400,000 meals served annually are delivered by volunteers.
“I didn’t think I’d be doing this for seven years, but I don’t see me ever stopping,” reflected volunteer Shari Humphrey. “Everybody knows, they leave my Fridays alone.”
That’s because Shari spends her Friday afternoons volunteering by delivering meals to seniors on her route.
“I’ve made some really great friends,” she said. “I look forward to my Fridays.”
The service she and other volunteers provide is lifesaving from a nutrition standpoint.
According to a study published by KFF Health News, in Utah, nine out of every 10,000 people aged 65 and older die due to malnutrition. That is the highest rate in the country.
“One of the ways we help combat that is to expand the Meals on Wheels program,” said Afton January, with Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services.
In addition to the nutritional benefits of the program, it also helps with mental health for both volunteers and recipients.
Shari knows many of the people she serves can feel isolated and alone.
“I talked to someone who said, ‘It's harder being older.’ Her kids are busy with her grandkids and she gets forgotten a lot,” Shari described. “Even during the pandemic it was hard because we couldn’t hug each other, so we would just stand there and do these air hugs. She said it was what saved her life.
FOX 13 News followed Shari to her delivery at the home of Bill.
“Three times a week they [the meals] mean everything,” he said. “I like to cook but as I get older I do less of it. This is like a homemade dinner that comes to me. Plus, she’s my best friend.”
Bill and Shari have formed a bond thanks to the weekly deliveries.
Those relationships keep Shari coming back and it’s why she encourages others to give a few moments of their time to serve others.
“I can go on and take on the rest of the day,” she said. “I feel like I have done something. Mostly, they help build me. They lift me.”
