Englewood non-profit serves food for people unable to leave their home

When Tom Kizis cooks in an Englewood kitchen, he is helping make meals for people who are not able to leave their home to get food.

Tom buys raw materials and cooks nearly every meal from scratch. Some of the food includes donated, day-old bread from Publix.

The Meals on Wheels director who is inspiring people said about 140 people in Englewood rely on their $3 meal each day and it serves around 140,000 meals a year. They come complete with a drink and dessert. Each of the meals is packed into a cooler and loaded into the back of a volunteer’s vehicle.

“They are 100 percent volunteers,” Tom said, “including their gas.”

After the volunteers get their vehicles loaded up, it is time for them to get those meals on wheels to people in need, including a BBQ chicken for a military veteran.

Harold Everingham, a Navy veteran, and his wife, Evelyn, have been relying on Meals on Wheels deliveries for 16 years.

“It’s absolutely wonderful they have very good meals and their volunteers are fine people,” Harold said.

Volunteers, like Kathy and Joe Macklin, do not only deliver food. The pair provides emotional and sometimes medical support to people who may not get many visitors. They make hundreds of trips each week with trucks full of food and hearts full of compassion.

“For all of us, it’s really rewarding,” Tom said.