Students with disabilities deliver Meals on Wheels: ‘We need to support each other’
By GeNienne Samuels
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RICHMOND, Virginia (WTVR) — At Feed More outside of Richmond, Virginia, meals are packed with purpose and volunteers move with intention.
But on one recent day, a team of high school seniors rolled in to join the Meals on Wheels delivery route.
The students, all with developmental disabilities, are building real-world life skills through a work-based learning program supported by the Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services, known as DARS.
Diane Snead Herson, a transition teacher at Richmond High School for the Arts, told our GeNienne Samuels that hands-on experience is the most effective way to prepare her students.
“The best way for my students, because they’re visual learners, is to actually put them out in the work field so they can see what working is all about,” Snead Herson said. “They might have a disability, but… they still are able to perform and still be able to learn and communicate with people, we just got to give them an opportunity,” Snead Herson said.
Stop after stop along the route, a different student steps up to place a warm meal in waiting hands.
Meals on Wheels customer Samuel Simmons reflected on what the students bring to those they serve.
“Their strength helps us with our strength. Where we are weak at, you know, they have the strength. And so watching them get stronger, you know, helps us get stronger,” Simmons said.
For the final stop, the group goes together.
Meals on Wheels customer Linda Gill said the students are making more than a delivery.
“It’s been very important to me… it’s a lifesaver,” Gill said. “My son became blind 13 years ago. It was devastating for me, but him and I work together. He is my lifeline.”
Gill said anything she can do for the students, she’ll do for them.
“I’m not going to turn my back,” Gill said. “I don’t want them to go back home and think that nobody cares about them, because there are people in this world that do care about them.”
For Snead Herson, the work is personal.
“I have a child that’s special needs myself. But not only do I have a child that is special needs… my heart is here,” she said. “We are in hard times and we need to support each other. Whether they have a disability or not. We need to be there to help each other out. Make this a better world.”
Snead Herson told Samuels that it truly takes a team effort to make programs like this work.
She said her team, instructional assistants Shayla Pair and Jacqueline Redwood, along with Sherry Strokes, the bus driver, take pride in helping each student discover their strengths and build confidence through the work-based learning program.
This Meals on Wheels trip ended with a birthday celebration for one of the students (Viki) and a monetary donation from Marc Herson in support of Feed More’s mission.
In addition to volunteering with Meals on Wheels weekly during the school year, these students: Viki Monzon, Zandra Johnson, Jennifer Sanchez-Guillermo, Malik Ellison, Joshua Jones, Jonathan Leon-Olivera, and Mikell Bowman, also work at different job locations each day of the week, including Virginia State University, Burger King, Save A lot, Burlington Coat Factory, McGuire VA Hospital, Publix, McGuire VA Hospital, Southampton Rehabilitation Center and Sunrise Senior Living Center.
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