I sat down with Robin at the party and despite the DJ’s equipment malfunctioning in our ear, I was able to get a few words out of her, “It has been really rewarding for me, I work with really wonderful people, kind and caring. I’ve always wanted to help people, something I’ve always wanted to do, so if I can help in a little way or play a small part, that makes me feel good,” she said.

“The volunteers here are the most loving people I’ve ever met,” she told me, saying there are currently about 90 volunteers.

Host of the party Gary Smith is a delivery volunteer with his wife Diane. They deliver meals twice a week and he said it’s more than just delivering meals. He said the clients are very appreciative, “A lot of the people that we call on, the clients we deliver to, sometimes we’re the only people they see that day.”

Marcy Mannan is the assistant office manager and she and Miller are the only two paid employees for MOW, each sharing roughly a total of about 20 hours a week. Along with organizing the delivery routes, they handle all the office and clerical work and also help organize the different fundraisers held throughout the year that help pay for the meals.

“Robin is really the face of Meals-on-Wheels, everyone in the city knows her. She is the one everyone goes to and she knows how everything works,” said Mannan.

Debbie Garza is on the Board of Directors and her Mom, Mary Jane Maloof was one of the founders of La Mirada MOW. She said they began small in 1975, “They started with five volunteers and five clients. The founders started the organization because they felt that there were the elderly and the ill living in our community and they needed to be served and fed.”

”Otherwise these people would be eating junk,” she said.

“Robin continues to manage the Meals-on-Wheels office with a smile, a sense of organization and she embodies the Meals on Wheels motto which is Service with Friendship,” said Garza.

The founders of the La Mirada Meals on Wheels in 1975 were Maloof, Dorothy Craft, Rachael Costanzo, Elizabeth Covert, Jacqueline Hanway, Jack Keefer and Dawn Ruxton.

The original Board of Directors in were Craft, Maloof, along with Elaine Jellerson, Jack and Coleen Schmidt, John Hendren, Jerry Oxman, and Florence Reed.

La Mirada MOW is approaching a half million meals served, currently at over 493,000 and they have served over 2,200 individual clients.

They rely on private donations, fundraisers, churches, and community service groups to help fund the program. Their annual, very popular Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser is coming up on January 24th.

For more information, call (562) 943-0037 or visit http://mealsonwheelslamirada.org.

Photos-La Mirada Blog Archives