Meals On Wheels allowed KLBK News to go behind the scenes with volunteers on Tuesday.
MOW is volunteer-based local organization that provides meals to home-bound residents. It has been servicing Lubbock since 1981, with its first order of forty-nine meals. Now, volunteers said they deliver over four hundred meals a day.
Volunteers are able to bring their children with them on routes to clients. Some of those children are now grown up and looking to continue the tradition.
The Monje’s have been volunteering for Meals On Wheels for over twenty years. Carrie and her husband have two children, Joey and Josh. From the age of two, they’ve each been raised with the MOW organization.
She said she delivers to clients every week throughout the year. Carrie and her sons have even established friendships with them.
Her oldest son, Joey, is a junior at West Pointe. He said he spends part of his breaks from school volunteering at Meals On Wheels. He said growing up with this organization has given him a passion for giving back. It even motivated him to pursue a career where he could continue to contribute.
“This is a volunteer service and military is also a volunteer so I guess since I got imprinted at an early age, choosing some time of volunteer thing is what I wanted to do so that’s how I ended up with the army,” Joey Monje said.
Carrie’s younger son, Josh, will be attending the University of Texas in Austin in the Fall to start his sophomore year. He said he hopes to continue volunteer work.
“When you look at the circumstance, especially with what’s going on now a days you know you just realize people aren’t as fortunate as yourself and it’s always great to give back to the community that raised you,” Josh Monje said.
“They’re very compassionate kids, they’re very comfortable around elderly people. They definitely recognize that not everybody has the physical abilities or mental abilities that they do and I think it makes them compassionate,” their mother Carrie said.
To find more information about Meals On Wheels, check out their website here.
