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Beth Aker

Meals on Wheels East Pasco looks to expand reach

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Meals on Wheels East Pasco executive director Beth Aker paid a visit to the East Pasco Networking Group’s Nov. 12 breakfast meeting at IHOP in Dade City, to give some updates on the 501c3 nonprofit organization and its upcoming initiatives.

Each day, Meals on Wheels East Pasco provides hot, balanced and nutritious meals to seniors, people with disabilities and other members of the Dade City and Zephyrhills communities who have limited ability to shop or prepare meals for themselves.

Meals on Wheels East Pasco executive director Beth Aker was a guest speaker at a Nov. 12 East Pasco Networking Group breakfast meeting at IHOP in Dade City. (Kevin Weiss)

“If you’re hungry, we’re gonna feed ya. It’s just that simple,” Aker said of the nonprofit’s mission.

In addition to Aker, Meals on Wheels relies on the help of dozens of volunteers to prepare and deliver meals from its facility on 15th Avenue in Zephyrhills.

Since taking over its operations in 2015, Aker said Meals on Wheels has partnered with 10 other charities to receive food donations and contributions from a host of local grocery stores, businesses and big box stores.

Those partnerships have allowed the agency to cut spending on food alone from $40,000 to $50,000 per year, to about $500 per month now, she said.

“When we were spending all that money, we were just spinning our wheels trying to keep up with everything. Now we have partnered with so many organizations that recognized not to throw things away,” Aker said.

All told, the agency feeds upwards of 1,500 people per week, Aker said.

That figure includes supplying bulk quantities of food to groups, such as Moore-Mickens Education Center and Cornerstone Center for Women, as well as area homeless.

“When I tell you that we give them food, we don’t just give them our leftover bread.

“They get meats, and they get vegetables and fruit and nonperishables, and they go out with 10 or 12 or 15 boxes of food to support their organization, and we do that every single day,” she explained.

As for its meal delivery service, Aker said the organization works to cater to the medical needs of the many seniors it regularly serves, whether they have diabetes, diverticulitis, heart problems and so on. She noted, meals aren’t prepared with salt or sugar, but are far from bland, with diverse menu choices each week.

“It’s not a TV dinner, by any stretch of the imagination,” she quipped.

Aker added the organization also makes it a point to help celebrate each senior’s birthday or anniversary with cards, cakes and more.

Meals on Wheels East Pasco provides hot meals to seniors, people with disabilities and other members of the Dade City and Zephyrhills communities who have limited ability to shop or prepare meals for themselves. (Courtesy of Meals on Wheels East Pasco)

It’s the personal touch that she believes the homebound seniors, who sometimes get lonely, appreciate.

She went as far to say the organization has become “the eyes and ears of family members who live elsewhere” for those seniors.

“We get to be there when things happen to them, when they’re not well, when they’ve fallen,” Aker said.

“We have to take care of each other. We’re all aging. Unless we pass away, we’re not getting out of this without aging,” she said.

With that, Aker revealed the the agency’s next major goal is to build a community resource center that could serve seniors, veterans and single-parent families. Services would help those in need get help for elder law, reverse mortgages, food insecurities and more.

Aker said such a facility is something “missing” in East Pasco. Possible locations she listed include the abandoned SunTrust building on Gall Boulevard in Zephyrhills, or, building upon existing property Meals on Wheels owns.

The project’s first dinner fundraiser was held earlier this month at First Church of the Nazarene in Zephyrhills; Aker said the project’s also begun to receive support from some state representatives. “It was just a drop in the bucket, but we have to start somewhere,” she said of the initial fundraiser.

Ultimately, Aker wants the resource center to be a place “to give our seniors a purpose for today, and give our youth a purpose for tomorrow.”

She put it like this: “At the end of my day, I am a servant, and I want to be able to make that difference, and providing resources for people who don’t know where to go, who are afraid to reach out, they’re terrified, they live alone — whatever their picture looks like, they should have someplace to just pick up a phone say, ‘Can you help me?’”

Elsewhere, Aker said she would someday like to expand Meals on Wheels’ meal delivery service to the Wesley Chapel area, but currently doesn’t have the volunteer capacity to make it a regular route every day.

“I would love to be in that area, to expand over to there, but the logistics portion of that is a little bit larger,” she said.

Published November 20, 2019

Meals On Wheels keeps delivering for East Pasco

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East Pasco Meals on Wheels attracts a lot of good people to the cause of preparing and delivering meals to the homes of those who need them.

The group includes hardworking and community-minded volunteers, and is led by a former postmaster.

“I just prayed that God would put me somewhere I could be used. When this (opportunity) opened, it was ideal for me,” said Beth Aker, who left her position as postmaster of the Saint Leo post office a few months ago to take the position of executive director.

These Meals On Wheels ‘doghouses’ are receptacles stationed throughout Zephyrhills where residents can bring recyclables for the organization. The recycling helps fund the organization’s operations, which are approaching $200,000 a year. (Courtesy of East Pasco Meals on Wheels)
These Meals On Wheels ‘doghouses’ are receptacles stationed throughout Zephyrhills where residents can bring recyclables for the organization. The recycling helps fund the organization’s operations, which are approaching $200,000 a year.
(Courtesy of East Pasco Meals on Wheels)

Aker was already familiar with the organization, since she had volunteered for them in the past.

In her new role, she’s tasked with trying to expand the program, reach people who need their services and raise enough money to keep things running smoothly.

Achieving those goals starts with education, Aker said.

Many people think Meals On Wheels is just for the invalid or homebound.

They do serve people in those situations.

But they also serve many people who temporarily prefer to have a meal delivered.

People in that category include individuals recovering from surgery or recovering from the loss of a spouse.

If there’s a need, Meals On Wheels can deliver each weekday for just $4 a meal.

There’s a board-reviewed program that considers financial hardship cases as well.

Another misconception is the type of food they deliver. These aren’t simple, frozen meals cobbled together from donations.

Considerable care goes into making sure customers get a variety of meals, and they’re never frozen.

“Our meals are cooked fresh every single day here,” Aker said. “Every meal comes home-cooked.”

A recent menu offered barbecue pulled pork, potato salad and baked beans one day, and sliced ham with oven-roasted potatoes and applesauce on the next. They also come with other sides and a dessert.

Meals On Wheels also makes accommodations for dietary restrictions for vegetarians and those with diabetes or allergies.

It also provides a varied menu.

Customers might go two months without seeing the same meal repeated, Aker said.

Each day the organization serves between 110 and 120 meals, with that number dropping a bit when the snowbirds leave town. Serving that many meals around lunchtime is a challenging task, and Meals On Wheels relies on a team of volunteers to make sure the meals get to their intended recipients in time.

Two of those volunteers drive their route together.

After 63 years of marriage, Dick and Kate Rudnicki are used to doing things as a team. They’re retired, but still enjoy doing one route a week, and sometimes more when Meals On Wheels is short-staffed.

“We like to volunteer, and we know people need things. It’s something we enjoy doing,” Dick said. On a busy day they’ve delivered as many as 21 meals, starting in the late morning and finishing up around noon.

The Rudnickis are from Michigan, and were snowbirds until recently, when they decided to become full-time residents. They’ve been volunteering for Meals On Wheels for years, and believe it’s an important service for many people in the area.

“I think it’s a great organization,” Dick said. “It really serves a desperate need.”

Serving that need is valuable, and it’s also expensive. Operating costs approach $200,000 per year, and the East Pasco chapter doesn’t get any state or government funds. Their money comes from donations from individuals and businesses, and a recycling program that allows residents to donate what they would leave on the curb anyway.

East Pasco Meals on Wheels has receptacles (they call them “doghouses”) in various locations around the Zephyrhills area, including parks. Residents who are interested in donating to their cause can leave cardboard, aluminum cans and newspapers, which will then be picked up by the organization. Meals On Wheels receives the proceeds from those recyclables.

That money goes to help fund their day-to-day operations, which they hope to expand in the future.

There’s a need for expansion.

Meals On Wheels has had to turn away people in the Wesley Chapel area because they don’t have the volunteers to serve them.

And, if they have to turn away people who need their meals, Aker feels like they’re not doing their job.

“Everything that we do, we hope to grow to be able to help more people,” she said. “Because there is such a need out there for lots of different reasons.”

And when those needs are met, the people who receive meals are very grateful.

The Rudnickis, who are in their 80s, plan to keep continue delivering meals as long as they’re able.

Part of the satisfaction of volunteering, Kate said, is the response they receive from customers.

“You get hugs and you get thanks, and it’s very rewarding,” she said.

East Pasco Meals On Wheels is located at 38145 15th Ave., in Zephyrhills. The organization is always in need of driver and kitchen help. For more information, call (813) 782-2793.

Published April 29, 2015