Citymeals on Wheels: Citymeals Delivers More Than Food to Aging Residents

By Amber James

As the clock ticks closer to 11am, Mary Petrone leans back on her bed. She rustles through the borrowed newspaper from her neighbors, which she’ll return later. Minutes seem like hours because she’s waiting for a special arrival.

Knock. Knock.

“He’s here,” the 90-year-old StuyTown resident says, grabbing her wheeling walker that is always by her side.

Although unsteady on her feet, she won’t let her home care nurse answer the door. Petrone cherishes her independence. She greets Warren, a volunteer with Citymeals on Wheels, who delivers her a hot meal six days a week. Today, he has brought her favorite: fish.

Having never married or had children, Petrone says she doesn’t have that many visitors. That’s one of the reasons she is so thankful for Warren and the Citymeals program.

“Warren is a very kind and wonderful young man. I would be lost without him,” she gushes about the volunteer who has been delivering her meals since 2012.

Petrone is one of over 18,000 homebound elderly New Yorkers who receive meals through the city’s meals-on-wheels program, which provides nourishing meals and vital companionship. Seventy recipients of the regular meal deliveries live in StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village.

“The people Citymeals serves were our teachers, doctors, police, firemen, diner workers – they built this city for us. But many are very socially isolated – they aren’t able to get out and often have no one with whom they can talk. That social isolation has a negative effect on their health. Citymeals encourages all New Yorkers to connect with their frail aged neighbors, check in on them and remind them they are not forgotten,” said Beth Shapiro, Executive Director of Citymeals on Wheels.

With Warren and a home-delivered meal, Petrone has a friend she can count on and the comfort of knowing someone will always check on her. (Even when Superstorm Sandy brought damaging winds and flooding across Manhattan, Warren arrived with a hot meal.)

“We are providing more than just a nutritious meal – it’s the friendly check-in that often enables our meal recipients, like Mary, to remain in their own homes. She knows that her meal deliverer, Warren, will be there every morning, asking how she’s doing. And if something is wrong, he will follow up immediately to ensure she gets the help she needs,” Shapiro added.

Petrone has trouble walking due to severe arthritis in her hips and legs and seldom leaves the immediate neighborhood (especially during the winter), but she tries to remain active. She’ll sometimes meet with an old friend at Five Stuy Café or sit on a bench outside her apartment to enjoy the warm weather.

The medical alert device around her neck speaks to her declining health, but Petrone, who moved to NYC in the 1950s, has had a rich life. She lights up talking about her European vacation with girlfriends and dancing at the city’s best ballrooms and dance halls.

Although still “young at heart,” her health began to decline in her 80s when she had risky surgery for uterine cancer, followed by six weeks of rehabilitation.

“The truth is I am shocked and don’t know why God is keeping me around this long,” the retired secretary chuckles. “I haven’t conquered the world, but you know, I’ve been kind and a good citizen. I think that’s what is important.”

Given her circumstances, she remains positive and says the Citymeals program allows her to stay in the place she’s called home for over 50 years.

“I’ve traveled to 16 countries, but my favorite place in the world is right here in Stuyvesant Town,” she said.

If you or someone you know is over age 60 and could benefit from home-delivered meals, go to citymeals.org/get-meals or call 212.687.1234. To learn more about Citymeals and how you can get involved, click here.

Read More