Skylands Rolls with Meals on Wheels

The white van from Skylands is a familiar sight delivering food to Meals On Wheels clients in Hackettstown on weekday mornings.

The white van from the day program at Skylands is a familiar sight at the Hackettstown (NJ) Senior Center.

Four mornings a week the van rolls up to the center, driven by a Skylands Direct Service Staff member and carrying three Skylands consumers. This is our Meals on Wheels delivery   crew for the day and they'll spend the rest of the morning bringing meals to elderly residents of the community.   

First stop of the day is always the Hackettstown Senior Center, where the Skylands team picks up food prepared there by volunteers from the Visiting Homemaker Service of Warren County. Then our guys load up the van and start their deliveries.  

On a typical day they make five to seven stops. Most of the Meals on Wheels clients they serve are people in their 80s and 90s. Some live in private houses, others in the Heritage House senior citizen apartment complex. But the visit process is always the same.

Accompanied by a Skylands staff member, one of our consumers knocks on the door and presents the resident with a cold meal packed in a paper bag and a ready to eat hot meal in an insulated container.  Staffers encourage our guys to introduce themselves and engage in a little appropriate conversation with each meal recipient, even if it's just to say "you're welcome" when the recipient thanks them for the delivery.

One of our Skylands consumers waits for a Hackettstown senior to open the door for a Meals On Wheels delivery.

"The biggest benefit is that we're out interacting with the community," explains Christian Ardila, a 16-year veteran of Skylands who supervises the day program and manages the Meals on Wheels activity. "Our guys love doing it."

Twelve Skylands consumers volunteer to take turns with the Meals on Wheels deliveries. Christian explains that the experience is rich with learning opportunities.  They learn safe ways of getting in and out of the van and using an elevator. And they learn how to have polite and safe interaction with strangers.

Skylands staff also take turns driving and supervising the Meals on Wheels volunteers.  They're just as enthused as our consumers.

"The support of our staff is what really keeps our Meals on Wheels deliveries rolling," explains Christian. "Everybody looks forward to their Meals on Wheels day."