ROCKLAND - On Sunday, Sept. 25, the Rockland Aldersgate United Methodist Church hosted a celebration recognizing nearly 50 years of the Meals on Wheels program. Special emphasis was placed on the work of Nutrition Director Lois Stackpole-Alley, as she has done much over the past 45 years to support and sustain this essential program.

Presently, meals are delivered to 208 individuals, five days each week, by a team of 75 volunteers. The Meals on Wheels program will continue under the auspices of the MCH (Making Community Happen) staff.  An expanded kitchen, presently under construction, will be named for Stackpole-Alley.

Pratt Memorial United Methodist Church (now the Wyeth Center), the parent congregation of the Aldersgate UMC, started Meals on Wheels in Knox County out of their concern for nutrition and homebound seniors.

According to Aldersgate’s pastor, the Rev. Linda Campbell-Marshal, meals were initially served at the church on weekdays and later delivered by volunteer drivers.  Within a short time, the program grew and preparation moved to the kitchen of the newly constructed Methodist Conference Home on Summer Street, under Stackpole-Alley’s supervision.

Stackpole-Alley recalled those first days in the kitchen.

“I was thinking what a lucky person I was,” she said. “It was a very challenging, wonderful experience and it was basically dealing with residents at the time. Over the years it’s been a greater population. It’s been very exciting and interesting and I always looked forward to the next day.”

Campbell-Marshal has been pastor at both Pratt and Aldersgate for 45 years.

“The Pratt Memorial United Methodist Church, 50 years ago, saw the need for meals for elder people in their own homes,” she said. “Not quite able to care for themselves, but not quite ready for institutional care.”

Campbell-Marshal said that a group of around 12 women who were United Methodist Women, a mission group in the denomination, out of their concern for the homebound elderly, started a program where one meal a week was served in the church dining room.

“They eventually realized that one day a week was not enough, so they opened it a couple of more days and then some more days,” she said. “Soon they realized that there were lots of folks who couldn’t get there. They began packing up meals and the ladies would deliver them to people’s homes.”

Meals on Wheels, which is a national program, was beginning to be structured about this time. They hooked up with Meals on Wheels as it began to happen out of the Methodist Conference Center on Summer Street, where Stackpole-Alley was the cook.

“For 47 years Lois has cooked for Meals on Wheels and she has organized the drivers, the volunteers, along with all the book keeping and ordering and everything else required” Campbell-Marshal said.

Pratt Memorial United Methodist Church moved to Route17 in Rockland in 1996. The newly built church was named Aldersgate United Methodist Church after having spent 120-plus years in that downtown Rockland building. That property is now the Wyeth Center.

Campbell-Marshal said they feel a real sense of ownership for the program, enabling independent elderly to remain in their homes as long as they can. She said that is the aim of the program, both nationally and locally.

“We are involved in about every mission that is going on in the city,” said Campbell-Marshal. “I believe I would be correct to say we sat at the table when the Area Interfaith Outreach was formed, the soup kitchen, we were also the founders of the toy library, which was funded by our board of International Ministries in New York. They gave us the funds to establish the library and it’s a place where children can come and check out a toy for the week.”

Campbell-Marshal also said they work very closely with Hospitality House.

“We appreciate everybody who has helped with Meals on Wheels and we invited everybody we could to come today,” she said.

For information on how you can donate or become a volunteer with Meals on Wheels, visit MCH Inc. online.

The accompanying photo gallery was put together by Revs. Linda Campbell-Marshal and Jen Curran. It exemplifies Meals on Wheels and Lois Stackpole-Alley over the years.