On one of the hottest days of the year, Catholic Charities’ driver Ramiro Gonzalez Avila knocks on the doors of seniors living in Lake County — some without air conditioning — and delivers a smile and a hot meal.
Some of the people he serves are private, extending their hands from behind their apartment door to accept their meal or stepping into the hallway and closing the door to their apartment behind them. Others open their doors wide for Ramiro, invite him in, and welcome his company.
A Day with Ramiro
Ramiro has been a driver for the senior home-delivered meals program for 12 years.
“I love it, and I still have time for my grandkids, three boys and three girls,” says Ramiro, 71, who babysits the youngest grandchild, a 7-year-old girl, daily with his wife.
He starts his day at 8:30 a.m., loads up his hot truck with enough meals for the 54 seniors he visits every Monday through Friday. Many of them are in their 80s and 90s. Some are much younger, yet disabled, on fixed incomes, and in need of the meal. Ramiro travels to apartments in Waukegan and Zion, mobile homes in Beach Park, and to some areas in North Chicago. He never knows what he will encounter each day on his route, but he brings his smile to everyone he meets.
“They’re like family,” Ramiro says of the seniors he serves. “For some people, I’m the only person they see — no daughters or sons visiting for months. That’s why, every day, they’re so happy to see me. We talk about the weather, we talk about some sickness they have, but the main thing is, I ask, ‘Are you OK?’”
‘It’s an eye opener’
Ramiro and his fellow drivers for Catholic Charities senior home-delivered meals program deliver so much more than a hot meal five days a week. They conduct well-being checks and brighten the days of the more than 800 adults age 60 and older whom they serve every weekday in Lake County.
“Sometimes the seniors we serve don’t have family, or friends, or the right resources,” says Valery Hernandez, Program Manager of Nutrition for Senior Meals in Lake County. “Sometimes when the driver makes a delivery, he may be the only person they see in a few weeks. This gets them out of their shell and gets them to know the driver.
“It’s also a wellness check we deliver to them,” Valery says. “The driver looks into the house, sees the living conditions, and reports back to us. We get in touch with the senior to see if there are other resources they need.”
One hot day this past June, a driver found her frail client who suffered from dementia wandering alone two blocks from home and guided the client safely home.
“There’s so many different limbs to this program, it’s an eye opener,” says Brenda Meyer, Director of Senior Meals & Nutrition in Lake County. “It sounds easy, but you need to have a relationship with the people we serve. We see them. If they need us, we’re here for them.”
Serving with compassion
There have been times when Ramiro found seniors on the floor. He even found a man once who had passed away in his favorite chair.
“He was so kind,” Ramiro says, “he’d give me a donut and coffee.”
Many of the people Ramiro serves plan their days around his visit and appreciate his consistency and the predictability of his visits.
Ramiro reminds his seniors at the end of every week, “‘Today is Friday, don’t wait for me tomorrow,’ but they forget,” he says.
And then Ramiro loads up his truck again every Monday, bringing his winning smile to 54 doors.
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Eligibility Requirements
In order to qualify for home-delivered meals in Lake County:
- The participant must be 60 years or older
- Homebound or unable to grocery shop for themselves or get to a food pantry
- Suffer from a medical condition, no family in the area, or live alone
- Screened for impairments causing the inability to brush hair, teeth, dressing or grooming
- Screened for impairments causing inability to do laundry, light housework, manage finances, medication or transportation
- Screened for nutrition including what do they eat, do they eat alone, do they have mouth or tooth problems that makes it hard to eat.
- Participants are initially identified and referred by the Catholic Charities Care Coordination Unit (CCU) in Lake County.
Participation is not based on financial means.
Good food delivered to seniors’ doors
Monthly menus feature a sweet and sour chicken breast, cheeseburger, Sloppy Joe, turkey, fish, and pork. Every weekday, clients receive one hot meal with a cold lunch bag with milk, salad, bread and butter, or juice and vanilla wafer. Menus are approved by a registered dietitian, temperature controlled and catered by Maravela’s Banquets & Catering in Fox Lake.
In addition to the hot meals, each client is provided an emergency shelf stable box with five complete meals, soups and juice boxes, which are delivered twice a year. A total of 24 paid, Catholic Charities drivers, along with 75 volunteers, deliver meals in Lake County.