Meals on Wheels, the Early Days:

Val Fredell with deliverer Wally Carlson

"At one time, I wondered, who is going to deliver meals to me when I get old," said Val Fredell.

As one of the first route coordinators when the program began in 1977, Val now gets a hot meal Monday through Friday, and on this particular day that meal was delivered by Wally Carlson, a former member of the Parmly Community Council.

Val remembers going to a meeting at Parmly to hear about a new program being started to take meals to the homebound. When the first coordinator for Trinity Lutheran Church decided not continue after a few weeks, Val and her friends, Joy Peterson and Mary Schmitz stepped in because they felt that their church needed to be a part of this program.

Each of them did the coordination for one week during the month and St. Bridget's Church took the fourth week.

Val was a dedicated coordinator and even called the route drivers when she was on vacation in California. She said that they delivered about 7-10 meals a day along a 30 mile route that took them from the Panola School along Olinda Trail, past the Boo School and then to the Blue Waters Trailer Court. Long time residents of the Chisago Lakes area will know the locations of these landmarks from the past.

Val has also delivered meals along with her husband. "It's a wonderful program and the people we met were so interesting." The most heartwarming, though, is the face-to-face contact with the meal recipients.

For some people, she knew, that she was the only person they would see all day and how glad they were to see her friendly face. Val has had a problem with her balance since a fall a few months ago, which now makes it almost impossible for her to cook her own meals.

"I appreciate Meals on Wheels, and I wouldn't have a balanced meal if I didn't have them delivered." Val is hoping that her health issues are only temporary; and in talking with her, you know that she will do her best to get better.

In the meantime, Meals of Wheels will be there for Val as long as she needs her meal at noon.