“The need is always there.”

Trudy White knows.

Not only has she been the director of the Union Meals on Wheels program going on three years, she also has been delivering meals to people in Union and played an active role in the program since 1982.

“Meals on Wheels is receiving more and more requests for help weekly,” White relayed in a recent email. “The need is evident and we want to help but our routes are now requiring 8-13 individual stops per route.”

It’s a battle for the meal delivery program that helps people throughout Union and Buffalo who are unable to prepare or obtain a meal for themselves.

On one side is the ever-increasing need for new routes to serve what seems like a continually growing list of clients.

On the other — the 60-plus drivers and volunteers already serving the Meals on Wheels program and the need for additional help.

“We need new drivers to develop a new route immediately,” White said in her email. “This would alleviate our present need somewhat; although, ideally, we could use 10 new drivers to establish two new routes within Union’s city limits.”

Meals on Wheels delivers afternoon meals to at least 100 clients within the city limits of Union and in Buffalo Monday through Friday each week. The program has no paid staff and the only money spent is to pay for those meals delivered.

Meals are prepared by the Wallace Thomson Hospital Cafe for Union clients and by Midway BBQ for those clients in Buffalo.

The area the program serves is divided into routes. Each route has drivers and a captain. All of them are volunteers and many use their lunch hours to do deliveries. White said there also are several organizations and businesses around Union and Buffalo that take routes on as a team with a group of people taking on the duties of delivery each week.

It’s those drivers who are the most important part of the program — without them, no meals would be delivered at all.

But with an increasing need for meals throughout the community, White is asking for additional help.

White recently signed on four new drivers to help alleviate the pressure of additional clients signing on but is still in need of additional help. It will take at least one more driver to create a new route in Union to serve more clients and, as she stated in her email, it would be great if a total of 10 new drivers would offer their services so a second new route also can be established.

And a driver’s qualifications are few.

“He or she must be dependable and must not be a convicted felon,” White said. “Delivery time would be no more than an hour in most cases.”

But the program is about more than simply driving around Union or Buffalo and delivering meals to those in need.

The drivers are the most important part of Meals on Wheels.

It is the drivers who come in direct contact with each of the program’s clients — they are there where and when needed.

“The drivers are the heart of this program,” White said. “The only way we are able to do this is the 60-plus drivers. Their dependability and compassion are just unmatched.”

The program’s drivers live up to the creed they each have read.

“We pledge to give of ourselves never forgetting that in the giving we also receive the gift,” the last paragraph of the creed states.

White and her drivers couldn’t agree more with that statement.

“I was retired and I felt like I wanted to give back to the community and help those in need,” said James Sumner of Union.

Sumner has delivered meals for the program over the last eight years and now delivers one route every week and substitutes on another. He said becoming a driver for Meals on Wheels is more than just dedicating the time each week — it’s about helping those in need and, more often than not, making new friends in not only the other volunteers working for the program but also the clients.

“I think the volunteers get such a sense of satisfaction out of knowing they are doing something worthwhile,” White said; adding Meals on Wheels is one of those organizations where the volunteers and the people who donate to keep it going actually get to see their efforts put to work.

“They know that the meal is appreciated everyday,” White said about the program’s volunteers. “And their visit is appreciated even more than the meal.”

“I love doing it,” said Nancy Smith.

Smith coordinates the pick up of meals at Wallace Thomson each morning. She is employed by the hospital cafe but is glad to have the extra responsibility of helping with Meals on Wheels.

“I enjoy it,” she said. “And it keeps me smiling out here.”

The efforts of White, Sumner, Smith and all the other program volunteers do not go unnoticed as 79-year-old Willie Wilson made clearly evident when he stopped in at the hospital Tuesday morning to pick up his meal.

“There ain’t nobody but myself,” Wilson said of his home situation, adding he rarely fixes lunch for himself and normally waits for a light supper each evening to eat.

Wilson said it makes a big difference when someone is there to help with preparing him a meal, especially now that his wife has passed away. The couple started receiving meals through the program three years ago.

He appreciates the program and the people who do its work.

“It’s good,” Wilson said.

White encourages anyone interested in delivering meals to get in touch.

“You will be blessed and will receive more satisfaction than you can imagine from this simple service,” she said.