Volunteers Help Make Easter Dinner Possible For Over 3,500 Homebound

DETROIT (WWJ) - Trucks were filled with trays wrapped in foil Sunday morning as volunteers gathered to deliver meals-on-wheels to senior citizens and the homebound.

Letta Azar the chief program officer with the Detroit Area on Aging says the volunteers are the backbone of the organization.

"Today was our hot-packing from 6 a.m. - 8 a.m. and then the meals are dispatched from several sites throughout the service area ... we've got a very loyal group of volunteers that show up from both cold pack, hot pack and meal delivery," said Azar. "I think they've got it down to a science. They get in there and they just get it done."

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network Director of Community Responsibility Bridget Herd explains their motivation:

"It's our mission, our social mission to give back - we are a health plan but we are also a nonprofit, a mutual nonprofit health plan, so that leaves us a lot in giving back to the community."

Kennedy Pleith is marking her fifth year as a volunteer and as a daughter of a Detroit firefighter she knows the need is there:

"Every year we come out and do this one and it's ... a great time - it means a lot being able to help out - especially with the fire department."

She says last year she delivered about forty meals, door-to-door, and says there is tremendous appreciation for the food received by the seniors.

Eric Harris delivers meals in holiday style:

"I'm the urban bunny, we have fun, we go out and visit the seniors and deliver a fresh meal to them," said Harris.

"You have to get out and give back," said Harris, who has been volunteering for 27 years. "This is the time of year, everyday is, the time to give back, but it's really special during the holidays when seniors don't get a meal through the regular, everyday, program. You are filling that void, that gap when the seniors aren't getting a meal during the holiday."

The organization teamed up with the Detroit Area Agency on Aging, the Detroit Fire Department, and more to reach neighborhoods including Detroit, the Grosse Pointes, Harper Woods, Hamtramck, and Highland Park with about 150 volunteers delivering over 3,500 meals.