Kinloch Meals on Wheels to close; elderly clients to lose a meal a week

A lack of volunteers, mainly the kitchen manager, is causing the closure of the Kinloch Meals on Wheels.

The program will shut down July 29.

Kinloch delivers meals on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to 27 clients, mostly elderly or disabled residents, in the Kinloch section of Lower Burrell and parts of New Kensington, Arnold, Plum and Upper Burrell.

Richard Kostewicz, 82, of Lower Burrell, president of Kinloch Meals on Wheels, said he can’t replace his volunteer kitchen manager, who is retiring.

“It would be next to impossible at short notice to find someone, unpaid, who has to be there three days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.,” he said.

The nonprofit has been charging $4 a day for meal deliveries.

Additionally, about half of the nonprofit’s clients aren’t paying for their meals, Kostewicz said.

The Westmoreland County Area Agency on Aging will take up most, but not all, of the slack, offering two free meals a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for elderly residents who qualify for the benefit, said Bridgett Schickel, deputy administrator for the agency.

But that could change.

“Depending on what we learn from the Kinloch closing, we may have to look at how we are structured,” she said.

Kinloch clients have been notified about the closure of the program, Kostewicz said.

To continue to receive delivered meals, those and future clients have to contact the Westmoreland Area Agency on Aging to become eligible for free meals.

A caregiver of a Meals on Wheels client Wednesday said the Kinloch program offered good service and very good meals.

The caregiver, who declined to be identified, said her client, a senior citizen with disabilities who lives in Kinloch, was making arrangements with another agency, “so she won’t be left stranded.”

When informed that the county Area Agency on Aging is only delivering meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she said, “We’ll just have to make do.”

On Wednesday, Kinloch volunteers were stuffing ham and cheese sandwiches in paper bags for lunches and boxing up a hot meal of sausage, tater tots, corn and a dessert at the Kinloch Volunteer Fire Department’s fireman’s club.

“It’s a shame,” Kostewicz said. “We feel bad for the people who can’t get out there on their own and who can’t cook,” he said.

Kitchen manager, Ruth Orris, 75, a former mail carrier, is retiring from her volunteer position at Kinloch after 17 years.

Orris is stepping down for family and caregiver responsibilities, she said.

“We are older than a lot of our clients,” she said.

Similar problems elsewhere

The lack of volunteers is a problem at some other Meals on Wheels programs, including the Lower Burrell program at Puckety Presbyterian Church.

The program cannot absorb the Kinloch clients because they don’t have enough drivers to cover Kinloch’s service area, said Claire Sheets, 77, of Lower Burrell, who is a board member of the Lower Burrell nonprofit.

The Lower Burrell program currently serves about 80 residents in Lower Burrell and parts of New Kensington and Arnold, she said.

The Kinloch program was developed in the late 1990s to cover areas that the Lower Burrell program couldn’t handle, she said.

According to its statement of dissolution, Kinloch Meals on Wheels has about $4,100 in the bank and will distribute the balance after food service bills are paid. Donations will be made to other Meals on Wheels programs and nonprofits in New Kensington, Apollo, Vandergrift or Leechburg.

Equipment also will be sold or donated.

Kinloch Meals on Wheels clients should call Westmoreland Area Agency on Aging to apply for free delivered meals after the Kinloch nonprofit closes July 29. To learn more and apply, call 724-830-4444.

The Lower Burrell Meals on Wheels, headquartered at Puckety Presbyterian Church, is looking for volunteers to drive meal delivery routes. For details, call 724-334-4404.