
{"id":1545,"date":"2007-12-27T07:58:49","date_gmt":"2007-12-27T15:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/12\/27\/recently-one-meal-at-a-time-over-29-years\/"},"modified":"2007-12-27T07:58:49","modified_gmt":"2007-12-27T15:58:49","slug":"recently-one-meal-at-a-time-over-29-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/12\/27\/recently-one-meal-at-a-time-over-29-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Recently: One meal at a time over 29 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/recentlyarnel122707resized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/recentlyarnel122707resized.jpg\" alt=\"Jeanie Arnel looks out the door of the Meals on Wheels office at Binkley Baptist Church.\" align=\"left\" height=\"120\" width=\"161\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>By Valarie Schwartz<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Meals on Wheels office at Binkley Baptist Church will seem a little less bright next year. Jeanie Arnel, who for the last 29 years has been director of the locally supported nonprofit, serves in that position for the last time on Dec. 31.<br \/>\nIt only took a spark for Arnel to decide when to step aside from the job she had thought she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d stay with for maybe a year.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I decided on the spur,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Arnel said last week. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I commented to a cousin that I was thinking about it and she said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDo it by the end of the year.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->During the first week of December, Arnel told Mary Alice Eckman, her close friend and chairman of the Meals on Wheels board, that the last day of 2007 would be her final day as director.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153After 29 years of her being there and my being board chair for 10 years, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve formed a tremendous relationship,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eckman said. The two devout women embrace different faith and political followings but prove that loving bonds can be built despite diversity.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She has a great relationship with all of the volunteers and the clients,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eckman said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really dedicated; her work ethic is unbelievable.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It has been a blessing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Arnel said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just a job, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of my life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Arnel started in 1978, when the local program was but two years old. The program, which delivers meals to the homebound, had started with four clients through the efforts of the late Sophie Martin, a member of Chapel of the Cross. Florence Soltys (who died in September) served for a year as the first director at a time when nutrition was her field, before she went into social work and the needs of the elderly, perhaps providing her with the impetus for the future endeavors with which she made such a strong impact.<\/p>\n<p>Arnel delivered meals, and after the second director left, decided to take on that part-time position.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d last more than a year or so,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Arnel said.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, she has outlasted hundreds of volunteers and clients. The program now serves Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Southern Orange County with eight routes delivered five days a week by a hundred or so volunteers \u00e2\u20ac\u201d some delivering weekly, some monthly, some as needed. For many of the shut-ins, those delivering meals are the only people they see for days at a time. And when a delivery volunteer has concerns about a client, they know that a heads-up to Arnel will get her attention to them.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been so reliable, so pleasant and so helpful to so many of the clients,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said volunteer Irma Stein. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She goes out of her way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Each potential client has received a visit from Arnel, who determines qualifications for delivery.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have all ages and incomes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Arnel said of the 72 clients on the current delivery list. Some people get better and leave the program, and some die, she said.<\/p>\n<p>What will Arnel do with the extra 20 hours a week?<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to clean the house!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said laughing, but added that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to volunteer with an English as a Second Language program, take a computer course, become more involved with her French group (she was born in Paris) and rock garden group and continue a strong involvement with her church. And she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll continue to serve as day chairman on Tuesdays, scheduling volunteers until a replacement is found.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a loving, caring presence and always has been,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Pam Drake, who has been delivering since 1980. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a delight. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll really miss her.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Valarie Schwartz at valariekays@mac.com or 923-3746. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Valarie Schwartz The Meals on Wheels office at Binkley Baptist Church will seem a little less bright next year. Jeanie Arnel, who for the last 29 years has been director of the locally supported nonprofit, serves in that position for the last time on Dec. 31. It only took a spark for Arnel to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}