Meals on Wheels rolls on in Freeport-Saxonburg area

Three days a week, Dan Heilman spends about an hour delivering meals to recipients of the Freeport Area Meals on Wheels.

He pays for the gas, donates his time and enjoys the weekly project.

“My wife, Dawn, died five years ago. It’s me and my cat,” the 80-year-old retired doctor said, “and I had kids and grandkids. But this is something I can do to help people.”

The program works because of volunteers like Heilman.

Some cook, bake and prepare the food for delivery. Others deliver the meals on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Sally Coyne, Freeport Area Meals on Wheels director, said about 115 volunteers donate four to 35 hours each month. More volunteers are always needed.

Routes cover Freeport, Buffalo Township, South Buffalo Township to Slate Lick, Saxonburg to West Winfield, and Cabot.

About 50 customers ages 47 to 101 pay $3 for a meal that actually costs more to make.

Coyne said each meal costs $5.10 and the program uses donations to make up the difference.

Special meals are made for diabetic customers, Coyne said.

Heilman, of Buffalo Township, was interviewed recently as he made deliveries on his route.

“I live in the Buffalo Creek Valley. It’s beautiful. You should see it today,” Heilman frequently tells people he meets.

With an upbeat attitude, Heilman delivers two meals along Kissick Lane and then drives his pickup to Horseshoe Drive.

Mary Pleva welcomes him at the door.

“I think this is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful,” she said.

Heilman provides more than a meal to people who would have difficulty getting one otherwise. A bit of companionship is one such thing.

And sometimes, Meals on Wheels drivers happen upon a resident who is experiencing illness, even a medical emergency. Heilman happened upon such an instance with a resident on his route. The woman assured him that she didn’t need an ambulance immediately but vowed to seek medical help.

Fellow deliveryman Sid Hill of Freeport said a man was once found on the floor.

Many groups pitch in

Numerous churches and civic groups supply most of the volunteers. At least 100 people are needed to operate the program each month. They often come from 18 Protestant and Catholic churches and community groups in the area from Freeport to Saxonburg to Cheswick.

Each Christmas, the volunteers offer each customer two dozen of the seasonal cookies. At Christmas, the Freeport Area School District National Honor Society pitched in three dozen cookies.

The Zion United Methodist Church makes small birthday cakes, which are delivered to customers.

Coyne, of Harrison, a retired Freeport Area School District teacher, keeps track of payments and getting enough volunteers three days a week. That’s in addition to helping out in the kitchen.

On this particular day, she made trip after trip to a microwave to heat warming pads for each meal.

The food is cooked or baked each day by a cadre of volunteers working in the kitchen at the Freeport United Methodist Church in Freeport, where the group rents the kitchen.

Monday’s lunch featured ham balls, mashed sweet potatoes and peas, as well as a sandwich and dessert.

Volunteer Ray Straughn, 66, of Freeport has been on disability for several years but does what he can.

“I’m usually here at 6:30 a.m. and open the door,” he said.

Straughn said meal recipients “frequently tell us that the meals are the high point of their day. It’s a high point for my day, too,” he said.

Joan Huth, 86, of Freeport has attended Freeport United Methodist since she was in the fourth grade and lived across the street.

“I used to sing in the choir,” she said. “I can’t do that now. I can help with the meals.”