By James Hanlon
Leader Staff Writer
For the sixth year in a row, the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 334 has stepped up to help out Oxford-Addison senior citizens. On Monday morning, they donated 40 “holiday bags” for 40 Meals on Wheels recipients in Oxford and Addison.
Locally, Meals on Wheels is coordinated by Older Persons Commission (OPC) in Rochester. The OPC provides a truck for food deliveries to Oxford United Methodist Church Monday through Friday. From there, Mary Reynolds, the Oxford area’s OPC coordinator, distributes the meals to volunteer drivers who deliver them to seniors’ homes.
This week’s holiday bags contained soups and crackers, and lots of snacks.
“We just like to help the community,” said Post Commander Jim Hubbard. “There will always be a need. I think now more than ever the need is great and greater.”
Reynolds agreed that the need and number of recipients has increased since the pandemic began.
“Organizations like ours, we aren’t giving out as much as we did in the past because we don’t have the funds to do that this year,” VFW Quartermaster Chuck Haskins explained. “So we need individuals to help chip in, help out. We’re finding that across the board, with all the things we do that the major charities just don’t have the funds this year to help out everybody.”
Locally, Meals on Wheels especially needs new volunteer drivers to help deliver weekly meals. Anyone interested should call 248-236-9260 to sign up.
On Sunday, the VFW also gave out 80 frozen turkeys (between 10 and 15 pounds) and all the trimmings for a Thanksgiving dinner (rolls, gravy, corn, turkey dressing, potatoes and cranberry sauce) to local veterans and families in need.

  Meals on Wheels