Deliveries bring food, cheer to elderly

Joyce Thibodeaux is always greeted with a smile and words of appreciation, but it is no surprise as she works her route delivering Meals on Wheels in Houma through a cooperative endeavor program between the Terrebonne Council on Aging, the Terrebonne Sheriff’s Office and the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government.

Serving as a volunteer for the past 27 years, Thibodeaux, who admits to being a young 60 years of age, has admitted that the service she and others provides is like taking care of a parent and often makes her wonder, as a mature baby boomer, who will do this for her if it is ever needed?

The Council on Aging makes use of 15 paid drivers and 20 volunteers that deliver Meals on Wheels five days a week. Each group contends that their work is something they want to do and that it benefits them as much as it helps those they serve. “We can always use more help,” Thibodeaux said with a soft and friendly voice that had the hint of a recruitment tone with it.

“Joyce is wonderful and we can always use volunteers like her,” said Terrebonne Council on Aging Executive Director Diana Edmonson.

Five days a week, the Council on Aging serves 650 meals to homebound elderly residents and provides 230 hot lunches for those who attend senior centers around the parish.

Food is cooked by inmates at the Terrebonne Parish Jail and picked up each morning at 9 a.m. by council staff members to, in turn, bring the food to the Council on Aging facility on West Tunnel in Houma and prepare meals for delivery. Meals are offered to those in need and any charge is based on their ability to pay. Some pay nothing for the service.

“For a lot of these people it could be their only meal they are going to eat [for the day]. Some of them, it’s their last meal,” Chef Glen Hebert said. “I tell the guys that do the work, ‘This is for your grandparents, your aunts, your uncles.’ We try to instill in them to take pride in what they do [by helping the senior citizens].”

The Council on Aging spends $1.5 million a year on meals for elderly residents. “Some of the people we serve really need the meal,” Edmonson said. “The sheriff provides us with Glen and 10 to 12 inmates and the parish provides us with the facility and insurance [at the old jail]. We provide the raw food product, the dietary and delivery. Because of the cooperative endeavor we can serve twice as many people.”

A typical meal meets all federal nutritional guidelines and is made in a manner that meets requirements for both heart healthy and diabetic diets. On the day a ride-a-long was offered the meal was a green salad, white beans and sausage, greens, sliced fruit and a carton of milk. “There is no added salt and we serve good quality food cooked with a Cajun flair,” Edmonson said.

Thibodeaux arrived at the Council on Aging facility at approximately 10:15 a.m. to pick up a carrier of meals and cooler of milk for her route. Using her own vehicle, a 2006 Cadillac CTS, she was able to take to the streets by 10:40 a.m.

Thibodeaux is originally from Alexandria and met her husband, Bill (a Thibodaux native), when they were students at LSU. The couple got married and settled in Houma in 1973.

On the meal delivery drive, Thibodeaux explained that she got involved in the Meals on Wheels program in 1983 when a friend asked if she would like to participate in delivering meals. “That’s when I started and I’ve continued,” Thibodeaux said. “Sometimes I get to be friends with the people on my route because it is like visiting friends.”

Thibodeaux said that while delivering meals she can also find herself being a resource for assistance in other ways. “We try to give help when it is needed,” she said.

“One time I went to deliver lunch to a lady and she had fallen down and was not able to get up. In that case I called the Council on Aging and they called an ambulance to come get her. But that only happened one time,” Thibodeaux said.

“Not long ago a man told me he had a leak in a water pipe in his house. So he shut the water off. The next week I asked him if he got his water turned back on. He said, ‘No, I’m going to do it when the weather gets better.’ Well, he never did so I told the Council on Aging because the water was cut off in his house. So the Council on Aging got a plumber to go fix his water so he could have water in his house,” she said.

“If someone does not answer the door I call the Council on Aging in case there is a problem,” Thibodeaux said. “They call a contact person [such as a relative] to check on them. Sometimes it is something simple like they are asleep and didn’t hear the door. On the other hand it could be someone who has fallen.”

Thibodeaux said one of the things that strikes her is knowing that when they were younger, the people on her route were self-sufficient, but now, even if they think they are all right on their own they often, in reality, need a great deal of help.

While some on her route are able to greet her at the door, Thibodeaux knows which homes have residents with a caregiver, an adult child or a neighbor that stays with them at all times. “When they get older it is hard for them to do simple things,” she said.

Marie Ledet greeted Thibodeaux at her door with a cheerful squeal. When asked how long she has been receiving the meals this way she offered a glowing smile. “I bean getting’ dees meals a little ovea’ a year I think. I tink da meals are very good. I want to say dat. This is plenty enuf’ [as far as a main meal for the day]. I’ll eat cereal or somethin’ later,” she said.

“I’m 81. You see dis heart?,” Miss Marie said placing her hand on her chest. “Dat’s as young as you can get.”

Arriving at the home of Aurelia Pitre, a woman who had raised nine children, was busy praying her rosary when the daily meal arrived. “I been livin’ here a long time. On Valentine Days I’m gonna’ be 90,” she said. Miss Aurelia reached up and offered Thibodeaux a hug while seated in her recliner and thanked her for coming by the house.

“She’s a nice, friendly lady,” personal care attendant Veronica Pierson, who watches after Rita Dubois, said of Thibodeaux. “[The Meals on Wheels] is wonderful for people who can’t get out. It helps them a lot,” Pierson said.

“Before she lived in that house, I delivered to her mother,” Thibodeaux said of 82-year-old Betty Livings, as she drove to her next stop. Linda Hebert, a friend and caregiver, at that address said that Miss Betty is always excited to see Thibodeaux and always enjoy visitors.

Thibodeaux confirmed that those to whom she is delivering Meals on Wheels might not realize it, but while they are getting fed it is she who feels nourished.

“Y’all come back to see me,” Miss Betty said. She realizes she can count on knowing that Joyce Thibodeaux will return the next day with a warm meal and equally warm disposition.

Need Meals On Wheels’ Services?

You may qualify if you …

If you are homebound.

Unable to prepare a complete meal yourself.

Have no source from which to receive a nutritional meal on

a regular basis.

Cost is based on ability to pay. Some cases require no fee.

To register call the Terrebonne Parish Council on Aging,

(985) 868-8411.

Meals on Wheels volunteer Joyce Thibodeaux is among those who make sure that shut-in area elderly residents like Aurelia Pitre receive at least one nutritional meal a day. MIKE NIXON