In good company

After suffering a stroke and a broken hip, Nanette Bagley didn’t think it would be such a good idea to drive, but she hasn’t been out of her Post Falls apartment for weeks and she couldn’t bear the thought of a Thanksgiving alone with her cat.

Enter Janie DeLauri, one of a small army of volunteers who make sure no one in the area is denied a proper turkey dinner. DeLauri drove to Bagley’s apartment Thursday morning and chauffeured her to Coeur d’Alene for the annual free community meal at the Lake City Senior Center.

“This is great, a lovely service,” Bagley said as she walked into the senior center with help from a cane. “It’s just nice getting out with other people. I haven’t gotten out in three weeks.”

At least 30 other senior citizens from the Coeur d’Alene area received complete Thanksgiving dinners in their homes Thursday. More than 100 homebound residents of the Spokane Valley were also served.

“Most of these people don’t have family in town, or it’s too difficult for them to leave their homes,” said Pam Almeida, executive director of Spokane Valley Meals on Wheels.

DeLauri of Spirit Lake was all smiles and giddiness after traveling the city to pick up homebound seniors like Bagley. Only last year, DeLauri and her dog were living in her van. She had recently moved from the Midwest and was unable to find affordable housing. She didn’t have a lot to give thanks for at the time, but she heard about the free meal put on by the city’s Center of Life Church and decided to give it a try.

DeLauri expected the atmosphere to be like a soup kitchen, but it was as good as any restaurant. Candles flickered above the table’s centerpieces. There was live music from local musicians. Those who arrived for a meal were greeted with a handshake and escorted to a table, where servers took orders and offered to put together a plate as close to home as possible: White or dark meat? Gravy on the stuffing, too? A slice of pumpkin pie?

“I walked in here and it was like walking into heaven,” DeLauri said, her eyes filling with tears. “I have never heard of a community affair like this.”

Now, DeLauri has an apartment. This year she decided to become a volunteer. She was one of many who fanned out across the region Thursday morning, delivering meals or giving rides to senior citizens. Upwards of 300 people were expected to be served in Coeur d’Alene at the Center of Life Church meal.

Some of the diners are short on cash or family, but others just like the spirit of a large holiday meal with guests from across the community, said Michael Hillicoss, who founded the event eight years ago with his wife, Vicki. At the time, there was no other free Thanksgiving meal offered in Coeur d’Alene.

“It was just an opportunity for us to express our gratitude, for everything in our lives and the abundance we’ve experienced,” he said.

A year after the first free meal, the volunteers began delivering two turkey dinners to each homebound resident. “Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without leftovers,” Hillicoss explained.

Meals on Wheels typically only delivers three times a week and not on Thanksgiving. Now there are enough people willing to help with deliveries that drivers are encouraged to stop and spend time talking with those unable to leave their homes or cook for themselves, said Sally Pidskalny, who helps organize the deliveries.

Often, the drivers have a hard time leaving. Pidskalny delivered a meal Thursday morning to a man whose wife had just died. He also recently lost two sons to cancer. “He was a tough one,” Pidskalny said. “He was so lonely.”

Funding cuts and rising gas prices are putting the pinch on agencies that work to ensure senior citizens have nutritious meals. The Sandpoint Area Senior Center, for example, is considering switching from daily deliveries to weekly ones. The Lake City Senior Center in Coeur d’Alene, which serves about 48,000 meals each year, saw costs go up 10 percent over last year.

In Spokane, the picture is even worse. The county’s two Meals on Wheels programs served 200,000 meals last year to seniors living at home. The downtown program has lost $20,000 in funding in the past three years, according to Rachelle Solomon, executive assistant for Meals on Wheels. The agency has cut back on its hours and paid positions, but has managed to continue delivering about 300 meals a day, she said.

“We’ll cut costs within ourselves before we make cuts out in the community,” Solomon said. “Our staff knows they are here for a reason. It’s not just a job for them.

Almeida, director of Spokane Valley’s Meals on Wheels program, said her agency hopes to raise $36,000 by the end of the year. Fund-raising has been tepid this fall, as people instead sent money to disaster relief along the Gulf Coast.

“People with a generous heart are willing to give, but they are only able to give so much,” she said.