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Feeding those in need for 40 years

‘Meals on Wheels’ marks four decades of bringing food to shut-ins

Sam Chiarelli Dispatch Correspondent

It’s been 40 years since the Greater Pittston Meals on Wheels program began and today the organization is still thriving. Coordinator and President of the Board of Directors Louise Smith is enjoying her twelfth year with Meals on Wheels and is excited about celebrating past successes, but also moving forward.

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Louise Smith, coordinates the Greater Pittston Meals on Wheels program and serves as president of the board of directors.

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“Every day there’s something nice about this job,” she says. “A lot of jobs are thankless but not this one.”

The Greater Pittston Meals on Wheels was founded in 1969 in the basement of the First Methodist Church on Broad Street, Pittston.

The church donated the kitchen and facilities, and the Meals on Wheels group donated their time and talent.

The organization enjoyed their time at the church, Smith said, but the opportunity to move to the Oddfellows building on 59 S. Main St. in 2003 was a chance that the organization could not pass up. For the past six years, Meals on Wheels has operated right in the heart of the city on its major thoroughfare with great results.

“We are very thankful to the Church,” Smith explained. “They were great to us, but we were struggling and unknown at that time. When we moved to our new location, there was much more awareness and people have been coming in to volunteer off the street.”

Meals on Wheels serves the Pittston community as well as West Pittston, Exeter, and every borough down to the Forty Fort Airport on the opposite side of the river.

They serve two meals a day, five days a week, to those who live alone and have no one to cook for them or take them out for food.

Smith explains how important the Meals on Wheels volunteers become to the people they visit.

“The volunteers deliver food for people, but they also give that person someone they see and grow to be friends with,” said Smith.

“They even take out the person’s garbage, do chores for them, or take their mail to the Post Office for them.”

Smith’s thoughts on the 40th anniversary of the organization she now manages could not be more complimentary.

“This is an exceptionally well-run organization to survive 40 years of a regulated program,” she said.

She spoke of friendships built over many years, and the “wonderful, wonderful chance to take care of the elderly.”

On Monday, October 19, a banquet was held to celebrate the group’s 40th anniversary. “Everyone was festively dressed and it was such a nice time,” Smith commented.

The major highlight of the evening was the mayor’s presentation of a proclamation from the city honoring the Greater Pittston Meals on Wheels.

According to Smith, the success of Meals on Wheels is due to the community’s involvement with the organization.

The Mail Carrier’s Drive run by the Pittston Post Office brings in 10 to 20 tons of food and propels the group through the whole year.

But schools and other community groups greatly aid the organization too.

Meals on Wheels gives Christmas cards every day in the holiday season to those they serve.

The cards come from charitable groups and are largely made by students in local schools.

These brighten up the days of those who may not receive any other Christmas cards, and help to make their holiday season a happy one.

“I can’t tell you how generous the people of the area have been with monies and time,” Smith said.

“It’s been great.”