83-year-old ‘Meals on Wheels’ volunteer shares how it’s “more than just delivering meals”
By Rachel Law
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TERRE HAUTE, Indiana (WTHI) — A common saying is that it’s the people that make the place.
That’s how 83-year-old volunteer Bill Youman is for Meals on Wheels. He’s just one of many volunteers that make an impact on the lives of those he meets.
Youman has been volunteering with Meals on Wheels for a year now.
He is the only volunteer who delivers meals five days a week. So five days a week, clients are met with a big smile.
Youman does wellness checks during those visits. He makes sure the clients have working air conditioning, are hydrated, and are overall doing okay.
“When you’re 83 years of age, there’s not a lot of things you can do. But I can still drive, I hope safely. And I can still deliver the food, but mostly I get to meet an awful lot of wonderful people,” said Youman.
So when he meets those wonderful people, he makes sure they enjoy the conversations, no matter how long or how short. To Youman, his job is to bring community to those clients.
“I’m the one that’s rewarded, it’s not the clients,” said Youman.
When someone needs more assistance, he lets the director of Meals on Wheels know.
The director, Shannon Wilkinson, says it’s up to them to serve those clients well, just like Youman does.
Wilkinson said, “The clients that we serve they’re sometimes overlooked but they’re extremely valuable. We love them, they’re precious to us. And they have a lot to offer us and our community at large.”
To Wilkinson, Youman is a symbol of Meals on Wheels as a whole.
I asked Youman how he got started volunteering and his response was simple.
“I don’t use the internet very often, but I happened to see they could use some volunteers and so I thought, well maybe I could do that. And I’ve been able to do it.”
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