Karene Manus loads the food into her truck and is off. She has deliveries to make on a sunny Friday. She will visit nine housebound older folks who rely on her for their weekend meals.

Manus is one of several volunteers, most of them senior citizens themselves, who volunteer for the North Valley Senior Center’s Meals on Wheels program.

“I’ve been doing it at least 10 years now, maybe more,” Manus says as she gets into her pickup.

The Meals on Wheels program in Columbia Falls serves a lot of meals each week, at least 120 frozen ones and many cooked ones as well. The hot meals are carried in an insulated bag to keep them warm. They’re cooked in Kalispell at the Flathead County Agency on Aging kitchen. Volunteers pick up the food each weekday and deliver it to the senior center, where it’s packaged for the program.

Lunch is also served at the senior center for walk-ins each weekday, for a nominal fee (a suggested donation of $4) and the coffee is always on. The frozen meals are delivered so folks have something to eat over the weekend.

The program has about three volunteers that work at the senior center’s kitchen every day and then it takes about four drivers to cover all the routes. Most routes are fairly short, just a few miles, but some are longer, 20 or more round trip.

The program needs more volunteers, Mary Sorensen, the director of the Senior Center on Nucleus Avenue, said. On some days only one person is working the kitchen, particularly if someone gets sick or can’t make it. 

“A couple of days we’re down to one person,” Sorensen said.

They could use two or three more kitchen helpers and about two or three drivers, Sorensen said. They really need kitchen help Monday through Wednesday.

Drivers need a valid license, insurance and must pass a background check.

All told about 37 people are delivered hot meals on a daily basis, (with frozen meals for the weekend). In addition, about 14 more get a week’s worth of frozen meals.

To be eligible, a person must be 60 and housebound.

Volunteers not only deliver meals, but they’re also a point of contact for seniors, noted volunteer Susan West. If the person doesn’t come to the door when the meals are delivered, the driver contacts the senior center staff, who, in turn, contacts the person’s family or other friend to make sure they’re OK.

Demand has doubled for Meals on Wheels in the past 10 years, noted Dave Caron. He runs the kitchen for the county. Funding is cobbled together through state, county and federal funds, as well as private donations. With the population in the county growing and more of it older folks, demand has increased as well.

The county cooks the meals and then they’re delivered to senior centers in each community.

“The program is mostly volunteer-driven,” Caron noted.

Countywide, they’re cooking 500 meals a day for seniors. He noted the program is not affiliated with Meals on Wheels America. It’s a local operation. One of the few in the state.

People interested in volunteering should contact the senior center at 406-892-4087 or stop by the facility on Nucleus. People interested in donating should contact the county’s Agency of Aging directly at 758-5737.