So Much More than a Meal

By Pressley Peters

On a recent Meals on Wheels delivery in Cockrell Hill, I dropped off two hot bags and two cold bags to a couple who has been on our route for some time. The woman answered the door warmly and said, “It’s very good to see you again, and may God bless you every single day.” She had a genuine smile and her gratitude was sincere.

This kind of meaningful connection happens often when we deliver Meals on Wheels, a program of the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas (VNA). I hope she and her husband enjoyed their meal, but I know they appreciated something more than the food.

A study by Meals on Wheels America, in partnership with Brown and Johns Hopkins Universities, found that home-delivered meals not only reduce hunger and malnutrition among older adults, but also provide significant health, social, and financial benefits to recipients and their caregivers. The study, in which VNA participated, compared seniors who do or do not receive meals and found that delivery clients experience healthcare cost savings, a significant reduction in loneliness, fewer hospitalizations, and fewer heart attacks and strokes.

Delivering is fun—especially with a partner. Doing monthly Meals on Wheels with my friend, Suzanne Booth, allows us to keep in touch when our lives get busy. We talk about books and movies, vacations, and family members. Plus, we tag-team each stop—one of us goes to the door while the other sets directions to the next house. We encounter colorful yard art, American flags, Dallas Cowboys fans, and many cats and dogs. Mostly, we cherish the brief but meaningful connections with the people we serve. Some are chatty; some are not. One thing is certain: We look forward to seeing Hazel waiting by her front door wearing her favorite shade of red lipstick.

VNA’S NEED FOR SUPPORT IS CONSTANT

Visiting Nurse Association Texas (VNA) was established in 1934 to provide home health during the Great Depression and its active Hospice Care program continues to focus on helping patients live with dignity, care, and respect. VNA added Meals on Wheels in 1973. Today, VNA regularly serves 5,000 homebound seniors and disabled adults with freshly prepared meals and friendly visits. These men and women, due to illness, advanced age, or disability, are unable to obtain or prepare their own meals.

Hot and cold meals are prepared five days a week early each morning at VNA’s Haggerty Kitchen on West Mockingbird. They are placed in coolers, trucked to distribution sites across the city, and delivered by nearly 4,000 volunteers and paid drivers before 1 p.m. each weekday. Volunteers are the lifeblood of Meals on Wheels.

Our church volunteers help fill a large gap in the ongoing need for drivers. However, VNA needs more volunteers, so fewer paid drivers are required. Volunteer impact helps VNA serve more seniors—for every route delivered by a volunteer, VNA can feed a senior for a week.

Click here to sign up as either a regular or fill-in driver through the Saint Michael volunteer group.

Training is minimal, and the process is simple. VNA provides an easy-to-use app with route details, notes about clients (including birthdays and pets), and a way to report delivery updates.

Most routes take just a couple of hours. Occasionally, weather or road construction adds a challenge—but homebound seniors face so many challenges every day. They rely on us to show up on their behalf.

VNA also offers group volunteer events for corporations and school groups. My children have delivered meals and helped with VNA’s monthly pet food delivery, too. We have found the gratitude from the men and women we visit—and the knowledge that we are delivering both nourishment and connection—to be deeply meaningful.

Our Church’s People Make a Difference — And You Can Too

In 2025:

• Saint Michael volunteers delivered 1,053 routes and 12,835 meals to 10,805 homebound senior clients
• 181 volunteers participated in regular meal deliveries and completed 13 weekly routes
• 45 volunteers participated in special holiday deliveries with their families, including Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and MLK Day
• We provided three gift baskets and four gift cards for the 2025 Volunteer Appreciation event
• Our church sponsored VNA’s Power of Pie project at Thanksgiving with a $10,000 donation, and many of us bought pies and volunteered to hand out orders
• Over $5,000 of our Heart of Giving proceeds were designated to VNA
• Katherine’s House, VNA’s new Hospice House for housing-challenged adults, is an Easter offering beneficiary

In addition to delivering friendship and food door to door, VNA provides end-of-life care for homeless individuals in our community at its new Hospice House.

Saint Michael Is an Early Supporter of Katherine’s House

Dying is a natural part of life. Its difficulty—or peace—can be shaped by a person’s surroundings, caregiver support, and quality of healthcare.

VNA is Texas’s oldest hospice provider, with more than four decades of experience caring for the terminally ill. Recognizing a critical need among homeless individuals and those living in unsafe environments, VNA has created a safe, nurturing home for them to spend their final days. The result is Katherine’s House, named after VNA’s most recent CEO, Katherine Krause. This five-bedroom home, scheduled to open in Dallas in early 2027, will be the first and only Assisted Living Facility in North Texas specifically serving seriously ill individuals with no safe place to turn at their most dire time of life. Katherine’s House will provide 24-hour care and hospice benefits in a warm, compassionate environment.

Our parishioners supported Katherine’s House through our Easter offering, but continued donations are crucial for its future operations.

Click here to make a one-time or recurring gift, or if you are interested in volunteering with VNA Hospice Care.

Get Happy! Our Church’s Work With VNA Is Ongoing

On our monthly route, Suzanne and I always look forward to what we call the “Happy House.” The small ranch home at the end of a cul-de-sac near a public park is painted bright yellow and filled with joyful yard art—multi-colored glass statues, lighted metal trees, wind chimes, birdfeeders, and Buddha statues adorned with plastic beads.

For a long time, we delivered two meals there. Recently, we delivered just one. We believe the husband passed away. Now the wife manages the Happy House—and their yappy dog, Baby—on her own.

This is why VNA exists—to meet vulnerable people when they are most vulnerable.

Our neighbors need us, which is why our church members show up. The VNA ministry is worthy of more angels—volunteers and donors alike.

Would you please join us? 

**This article was written by Pressley Peters and was featured in the 2026 Summer Archangel.