Weekday mornings the kitchen at the Warren County Senior Center is heating up in preparation for a day of feeding senior citizens.First up at the lunch line: volunteers. They show up around 10 a.m. with large coolers that they load up with to-go containers full of warm, hearty meals.When the volunteers are ready they head out to deliver each meal to a homebound senior citizen who is enrolled in the Meals on Wheels program.Executive Director Sheryl Stefanski said the senior center has seven delivery routes covering all of Warren County. Volunteers deliver 70 to 80 meals each day along those seven routes.Stefanski said about 50 people are signed up as volunteers, but that number is deceiving because volunteers work when they can. Some volunteers deliver once a month. Some deliver once a week. Others deliver more or less.“We’re always looking for drivers (and) right now, we’re hurting for drivers,” Stefanski said.Ken Kirk started volunteering as a Meals on Wheels driver about two years ago. Kirk’s wife, Carol, had worked at the Senior Center for some 20 years. After they both retired they signed on as meal delivery partners.Kirk said clients perk up when they see Meals on Wheels volunteers. It means a meal and also a visitor.While volunteers don’t get to stay long, drivers do get to know their clients well enough to know when something is wrong.“You can tell when people don’t feel well,” Kirk said, adding that he noticed a client not acting himself once and ended up calling 911.Kirk joined the organization’s board of directors about six months ago. He encourages people to volunteer.“Get out and meet your community neighbors,” he said. “You need to meet your neighbors and get to know them.”He added they have made contributions and have stories to tell.Volunteers get to choose how much time they give.Stefanski said, “Most routes are no longer than an hour.” Drivers start about 10 a.m. and have completed deliveries by noon, she said.“Most of the drivers are 60 on up to 96 (years old),” she said, but younger drivers can join too.While delivering meals is the vital part of the program, being a volunteer fulfills more needs than nutrients.“Not only is it the hot meal, honest to goodness, the driver is sometimes the only person they see that day,” Stefanski said.Volunteer drivers should be at least 18 and have a valid driver’s license and proof of insurance. They should provide their own transportation or they may sign up to be a meal delivery partner with another Meals on Wheels driver.For more information about services and volunteer opportunities, call the senior center, 501 Ashland Ave., Warrenton, at 636-456-3379 or email wcseniorcenter74@gmail.com.

Ken Kirk, left, and his wife Carol Kirk leave the Warren County Senior Center Tuesday, Jan. 29, with a supply of freshly prepared hot meals to deliver to Meals on Wheels clients. The senior center is in need of additional meal delivery drivers.

Record photo/Kate Miller

The first people Diana Aubuchon, head cook at the Warren County Senior Center in Warrenton, sees in the lunch line each day are volunteer delivery drivers for the Meals on Wheels program. Here she is Tuesday, Jan. 29, on beef stroganoff day. After loading meals for deliveries, the kitchen will get ready for serving in-house meals.

Record photo/Kate Miller