PUTNEY — I have been delivering Meals on Wheels for a couple of years. Each time I do my deliveries it provides another lesson to me about growing older, loneliness, isolation, and what being poor amongst the riches of this country means.
I see people struggling with deficient housing, neglected trailers, places littered with trash and peeling paint. I see older people struggle to get to the door. Some are grateful for just a brief greeting or small bit of conversation while I drop off their meals.
Despite the brief contact, over the years I have begun to get to know the seniors who are on my route. Some want to engage; for others, it is just fine if I hand them their meals and leave.
I wasn't prepared for one recent encounter, though.
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As I delivered the meal, this fellow, who is disabled and I am pretty sure never leaves his trailer, asked if I was going back to the office after I finished delivering. He handed me an envelope for Putney Cares, and told me it was a donation for $100. He said it “wasn't much.”
I just stood there for a long while, almost speechless, thinking about how little this man must have and how precarious his finances must be - and yet he was giving back a not-insignificant contribution to the group helping him.
I was deeply humbled and profoundly touched. And I did manage to convey this to him.
And it made me want to double my charitable contributions this year.