Beyond the service basics

Luis Pena

Typically, Wyn Dee Stone’s volunteering efforts stop at delivering

food to seniors.

But once, the 38-year-old Newport Beach real estate agent and

single mom’s work with Seniors Meals and Services Inc. went far

beyond the typical.

The first tip that all was not usual was when her client’s door

was not open like it normally was. Stone called out her name, and the

senior said that she was stuck but that she was OK. Stone took no

chances and immediately called paramedics for help.

“She had fallen between the couch and a table and cut her face

open, and she was on a breathing machine that she got disconnected

from, and I guess she just didn’t want to overreact, but she was

under-reacting for her injury,” said Stone, who has worked with the

group for two years. “So [the paramedics] said, ‘Good thing you

called.’”

It is that kind of extra effort that exemplifies the program’s

volunteers.

Seniors Meals and Services Inc. provides the service to homebound

seniors in the community. It is so popular that there is a waiting

list to get into the program because it helps to keep homebound

seniors living independently.

The group has strict guidelines for those who want to receive the

meals. Seniors must be homebound, which means that they cannot

prepare their own meals or that they do not have anyone to help them

such as a live-in caregiver, said Nicole Westergaard, a case manager

at the organization.

The group’s goal is to keep seniors living independently for as

long as possible by delivering the meals to them, said Kimberly

Morgan, volunteer coordinator

The deliveries are not done by paid workers but by the volunteers

who deliver 12 meals to 12 seniors on their routes.

Stone began volunteering after learning about the program on TV.

She said she didn’t volunteer just to help the homebound seniors

out but also for her son’s benefit.

“I wanted to be an example for my son, that you need to make time

for people that need you,” Stone said.

Volunteering is a way for Stone to give back to the community.

“The No. 1 comment that everybody says why they can’t is time,”

she said. “Two hours a week at the most to make sure that an elderly

person is fed for that day. To me there is no excuse not to have

time.”

The seniors appreciate the volunteer’s help, said 94-year-old

Olive Newcomer of Costa Mesa.

Newcomer uses a walker and needs a hip replacement, so she can’t

move around to do her own shopping and cooking.

“They are very conscious,” Newcomer said, adding she would

probably be in a nursing home if it weren’t for the program and its

volunteers.

Kathleen Cole, 80, who is also homebound, says that the

organization is wonderful because it helps keep her independence and

it helps to keep her living expenses down.

“I’d probably have to go to a nursing program,” Cole said.

Volunteers are needed in Costa Mesa. For information about

volunteering, call Kimberly at (714) 891-0804.