Despite the winter storm and heavy snow that kept many Roaring Fork Valley residents indoors on Tuesday morning, Robin Braine, along with nine other volunteers, picked up and delivered meals for local nonprofit organization Valley Meals and More. 

Braine has volunteered for the organization several times a week for almost two years, and has built a rapport with many of the organization’s clientele. 

“For the most part, almost everyone I deliver to is someone that became a new person in my life, a new person that I met that I did not know before, and some of them I am closer to than others,” Braine said. “I visit on weekends, help with their little pets when their families go out of town, you know, just provide a little check in on people that live nearby me.”

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“I’ve made some friends that I would not otherwise have known,” she added. “My life is richer for knowing them.”

Valley Meals and More delivers meals, provides medical rides, caregiver respites, and care calls. The nonprofit also offers home visits and referrals for older adults in eastern Garfield County including Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Missouri Heights, El Jebel, the Crystal Valley and unincorporated areas. 

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“What we try to do is help the older adult, obviously live independently, because that’s our mission, but it can be anything from giving them a ride to a doctor’s appointment to running to the grocery store to pick up a prescription,” Valley Meals Executive Director Mary Kenyon said. “Some people have asked us to bring newspapers, which is really helpful for people with dementia… it’s really diverse the different things we offer.”

Using donations and grants, the nonprofit partners with local restaurants and retailers, like City Market and Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley, to serve between 130 and 138 meals on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, rain or shine. Around 35 meals are also delivered to Glenwood Manors Apartments on Wednesdays, as well as 20 other residents who have no additional resources for food.

Around 10 volunteers gather at designated locations four days a week to collect a list of clients and packed meals before delivering the food around the valley. Volunteers are typically scheduled for the same weekly route, and some deliver food more than once a week, while others volunteer as little as once per month. 

“It is just a way for us to get a little joy back from seeing the happiness you bring to someone else and to make a difference in their life and let them, with dignity, stay in their own home,” Braine said. 

She visited with nine community members while delivering meals in and around Carbondale on Tuesday.

“Some people I spend more time with than others, because I know that they are a little lonelier and a little more alone,” Braine said. “…I’ll arrange my route and deliver to those people at the end and try to have them be the last person so that I don’t have to hurry away to deliver more meals. It honestly gives me back so much joy. I really can’t say enough wonderful things about it.”

The nonprofit delivers more than 520 meals each week, totaling about 26,350 meals annually to 235 community members who struggle to prepare their own food. 

“We have one woman who can get to the grocery store, but she doesn’t have the capacity to shop, so she found herself having to sit down,” Kenyon said. “There’s no chairs in a grocery store, so she had to sit down in the middle of the floor when she became weak. It’s those kinds of physical incapacities.”

Meals are provided at no cost to Meal Valley customers, although there is a recommended donation of $3 per meal. Each delivered meal is thoughtfully crafted to include a starch, protein, vegetable, bread, dessert or fruit, with portions large enough for leftovers.

“I feel that our program addresses the needs of the older adults, because they tell me directly,” Kenyon said. “Even though we have a program phone, they all have my cell phone, and they will call me in the evening. They will call me on weekends and I am happy to be there for them.”

As of Oct. 31, 2024, 63% of the nonprofit’s meal recipients live alone, 67% are at least 75 years old, with 18 individuals in their 90s, and 61% are at or below the poverty line. 

Kenyon, a senior herself, founded the organization after noting a gap in services for senior citizens in 2020. 

“I could see a future where I would need the services, my friends would need the services. Then when I looked into it I found out that Garfield County, on the eastern side, did not have this service available at all. Home delivered meals were non-existent,” Kenyon said. “The community, through their referrals to us, through donating to us and through volunteering with us, are supporting the health and wellness of the overall community.”

The nonprofit relies on about 55 volunteers, who take an hour to an hour and a half out of their day, to deliver meals and provide company and check-ins for the community members who need it most. 

“This is a good way to give back to our founding community, fathers and mothers, and make the community very robust, because the older adults don’t have to leave. They can stay in their homes, and they can get a visit every day, and they can feel connected to the community,” Kenyon said. “Anyone who volunteers with our program is the connection to the community. That’s why, if you talk to our volunteers, they will tell you how much they enjoy having the conversation. It’s not really about the meal, it’s about the visit.”

Those who are at least 60 years old and wish to enroll in the program can call 970-404-1193 or email mary@valleymealsandmore.com. Those interested in volunteering can fill out an application and waiver at valleymealsandmore.com/volunteer.