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Senior Spotlight: Kathy and Rick Lyngaas
22 Young at Heart April 2021 Unified Newspaper Group Senior Spotlight There are so many ways we can help
Fitchburg couple in third year delivering for Meals on Wheels
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Story by Neal Patten - Photos by Mandi Miller
Kathy and Rick Lyngaas After several hospitalizations later in life made cooking for herself more difficult, Kathy Lyngaas mother benefitted from home-delivered meals. While Lyngaas was thankful for how that service provided for her mother, as a mom herself raising two sons while working full-time, she didnt have much extra time to volunteer to give back. That was until just after she had retired, when she saw an ad seeking help for a Meals on Wheels delivery program, posted by Fitchburg Senior Center volunteer and nutrition site manager Mandi Miller. As she was familiar with the service because of her mom, she decided to volunteer. Her husband Rick was also interested in helping deliver meals, and they thought it would be fun to work together. Theyve now been delivering meals together for about two and a half years, helping their neighbors in need -- and having a blast at the same time. When people can pair up to deliver meals, whether it be a team of spouses, or a team of friends, it makes the volunteer experience so much more fun and doable, Miller said.
Q&A with Kathy and Rick Lyngaas
What is the most rewarding part of this volunteer work? Delivering meals to people in some cases helps them remain in their homes, maybe just while recovering from an illness, but in other cases for longer periods of time. That will be important to us some day as well. Helping others is very satisfying and we feel lucky to be able to do it. What is the most challenging part? Its not really challenging -- its easy to do and the senior center staff are very supportive. It is sad sometimes when one of the people we delivered to regularly is no longer on our list and we hear that they need more care or have passed away. What is the shift of a meal volunteer like? We have a consistent assigned schedule. When we arrive at the Senior Center to pick up meals for delivery, the amazing kitchen volunteers have already packaged meals for the people on our route. We load the coolers in our car and off we go, following the list for our route. Usually I drive and Rick drops off the food. We try to greet and see each individual receiving a meal, although that has been more challenging during the pandemic. Once we finish, we take our coolers back to the senior center and record our time and number of meals delivered. If we encounter anything of concern, the staff are available to follow up. Did you have to stop volunteering for a while due to the pandemic? No, we chose to continue during the pandemic. We were more careful -- we used masks and gloves and left meals on porches instead of going into homes -- but most of the people receiving meals are not in regular contact with lots of other people, so we felt the risk was minimal. What would you say to someone interested about volunteering? There are so many ways we can help each other in our community -- there is surely something that is a good fit, even if its not delivering meals. We owe it to each other to do what we can when we can.
For more information on Fitchburg Senior Centers Meals on Wheels program, visit fitchburgwi.gov/639/Meals.
The couple, who will be married 45 years this August, deliver meals on Fridays two to three times per month and fill in for other drivers when they can. Each route takes about an hour. The Lyngaases usually do the country route near Williamsburg Way and down through Dunns Marsh unless they are filling in for someone. They have helped so much during the pandemic by picking up routes and being such solid volunteers, Miller said. They are so easy to work with and are willing to go with the flow of whatever comes up. Im so fortunate to have such amazing volunteers.
How To Help
Want to volunteer? Meals on Wheels volunteer drivers are needed from 10:20-11:45 a.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Volunteers deliver hot meals to the Fitchburg Senior Center’s clients, who are mostly home-bound. The time commitment for each route is about one to two hours, and you can be reimbursed for your miles if you choose. If interested, email volunteer manager Mandi Miller at mandi.miller@fitchburgwi.gov or call 608-270-4293.
Benefits of Meals on Wheels
According to the Fitchburg Senior Center website, benefits of Meals on Wheels include: not having to find a ride or drive to buy food, not having to walk through a store to find food, not having to stand beside a hot stove to prepare a meal, not having to wash dishes after eating, not having to plan a menu and not having to think about preparing or shopping for food.
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