The Sanatoga Post

Friendly's, 203 Shoemaker Rd., Pottstown PA

SANATOGA PA – Staff members at Meals On Wheels in Sanatoga hope you’ll hop into your own wheels Feb. 13 (2012; Monday) and cruise over to the west side of Pottstown for a meal that will give the program some financial assistance.

Friendly’s Restaurant, at the corner of Route 100 and Shoemaker Road, will hold a fund-raiser that day from 5-8 p.m. to benefit Family Services of Montgomery County and, specifically, its effort to bring two meals daily to shut-ins and elderly in the greater Pottstown area. Friendly’s is donating 10 percent of its proceeds during the period, for both dine-in and take-out items, to Meals On Wheels.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Ruth Hood, director of the meals program located at 1976 E. High St., claimed it has “a long history of ensuring the nutritional well-being of elderly individuals … and has helped many seniors lead happy, healthy and independent lives.”

Each weekday, according to Hood, Family Services provides two meals – a hot lunch and a cold supper to refrigerate – to an average of 175 home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Community volunteers personally deliver more than 81,000 meals a year.

“Thanks to the community’s ongoing support of our fund-raising efforts, we are able to serve (those) who turn to our program for assistance,” Hood said.

Photo from Yahoo Images

Needed: cheery volunteers for meals' delivery

SANATOGA PA – Montgomery County’s Meals on Wheels program, operated by Family Services at 1976 E. High St., Sanatoga, needs volunteers to pack and deliver meals to home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in the greater Pottstown area, the agency said Friday (Jan. 6, 2012.)

Meals on Wheels provides two meals – a hot lunch and a cold supper to refrigerate – each weekday to an average of 160 individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Volunteers personally deliver more than 81,000 meals a year.

Volunteers gather weekdays in two shifts, 8-10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to noon, for packing. Volunteers who deliver meals meet weekdays at 10:30 a.m. Most delivery routes take about 1-1/2 hours to complete. Drivers must have a valid driver’s license, current insurance and their own reliable vehicle.

Many volunteers commit to packing or delivering meals once a week; others volunteer on a substitute basis. Training is provided.

For more information, call Case Manager Alicia Adams at 610-326-1610, Ext. 228.

Photo from GoogleImages

Presenting the restaurant's check are, in front from left, Liz Bieber, co-owner, Shorty’s Sunflower Café; Amber Travitzky, Jenn Armstrong, Chelsey Rife, and Shushma Patel of Meals on Wheels; and in back, Shorty's co-owner George Bieber, Bob Grose, Nathan Stouch, and Trevor Euston.

POTTSTOWN PA – Just as local grocery shoppers start to think about Thanksgiving dinner, the owners and employees of Shorty’s Sunflower Café – a gourmet restaurant at 1494 N. Charlotte St. in Lower Pottsgrove(PA) Township – were thinking about feeding older community residents who may be unable to observe the holiday with their families.

Staff members of Shorty’s last Thursday (Oct. 27, 2011) presented what has become an annual tradition for them: a check to benefit the Meals On Wheels program of Sanatoga-based Family Services of Montgomery County. The restaurant’s week-long fund-raiser, held in June for the service that delivers meals to shut-ins, this year collected $6,722.

“Our staff and customers always enjoy our annual Meals on Wheels fund-raiser,” said Liz Bieber, co-owner of Shorty’s. “By participating in this event, we have a chance to be more involved in our neighborhood, help those most in need, and do what we do best: feed the community.”

Staff members sold raffle tickets to customers for the chance to win a variety of prizes, including gift baskets, art work, and gift certificates from local businesses. In addition, the café offered advertising “space for sale” in the form of t-shirts the staff wore inside the restaurant during the event.

Each weekday, Meals on Wheels provides two meals, a hot lunch and a cold supper to refrigerate, to about 175 home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Community volunteers personally deliver over 81,000 meals a year.

TIMBERLAND STAFF SPRUCES UP FOR MEALS ON WHEELS – Employees of the Timberland retail clothing store at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets were out in a parking lot Saturday morning (Sept. 17, 2011) in Sanatoga, washing cars and selling baked goods to help raise money for the Meals on Wheels program of Family Services of Montgomery County. Ken Major (above) and other workers attracted drivers from East High Street to behind Family Services’ offices there, where getting cars clean and selling cookies for a small fee was the order of the day. “Timberland is a leader in corporate volunteering and service to the community,” said Ruth Hood, Meals on Wheels’ case manager. Its “generous support is making a great difference in the lives of seniors in the greater Pottstown area.”

Needed: cheery volunteers for meals' delivery

POTTSTOWN PA – Montgomery County Family Services’ Meals On Wheels program needs volunteers to pack and deliver meals to home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in the greater Pottstown area, agency Marketing Director Karen Konnick said Thursday (June 23, 2011).

Each weekday, Meals On Wheels provides two meals – a hot lunch, and a cold supper to refrigerate – to an average of 160 home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Volunteers personally deliver more than 81,000 meals a year.

Volunteers meet weekdays at Family Services’ Pottstown office, 1976 E. High St., Sanatoga PA, to pack meals during one of two shifts: from 8–10:15 a.m., or from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Those who deliver meals arrive at the office at 10:30 a.m., and take about 90 minutes to complete their routes. Drivers must have a valid driver’s license, current insurance and their own reliable vehicle.

Most volunteers commit to packing or delivering meals once a week; others volunteer on a substitute basis. Training is provided.

For more information, call Case Manager Ruth Hood at 610-326-1610, Ext. 226, or send her an e-mail, here.

POTTSTOWN PA – Forks up! The annual feast to benefit the Montgomery County Meals On Wheels program that is thrown by Shorty’s Sunflower Cafe, the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township restaurant known for its gourmet dishes, is under way.

Shorty's last year raised $14,346 for Meals On Wheels. This year's goal: $15,000.

The fund-raiser donates proceeds from several activities by owners and staff of the restaurant at 1494 N. Charlotte St., Pottstown PA, to the program operated by the non-profit county Family Services agency from its offices in Sanatoga. It began Monday (June 20, 2011) and continues through next Thursday (June 30).

“Our staff and customers always look forward to our annual Meals on Wheels fund-raiser,” said Liz Bieber, who with her husband George owns and operates Shorty’s. “By participating in this event, we have a chance to be more involved in our neighborhood, help those most in need, and do what we do best: feed the community.”

Shorty’s opened in Gilbertsville in 1996 and then moved to Pottstown 11 years ago. It gets high marks from many national restaurant and dining guides for its breakfast and lunch menus. Last year’s event collected $14,346 for Meals On Wheels; the goal this year is $15,000 … or more, hopes Family Services’ Marketing Director Karen Konnick, if the public is hungry enough.

Meals On Wheels, Konnick noted, “has a long history of ensuring the nutritional well-being of elderly individuals, and has helped many seniors lead happy, healthy and independent lives.”

Each weekday it provides two meals – a hot lunch, and a cold supper to refrigerate – to an average of 160 home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in Pottstown, Royersford, and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Community volunteers personally deliver more than 81,000 meals a year. Beyond the obvious nourishment, though, drivers also offer friendship, a kind word, and a quick status check to their recipients.

Family Services’ is headquartered in Eagleville PA, but its offices at 1976 E. High St., Pottstown, is home to the meals program. For more information on it or the agency, call 610-326-1610.

For this year’s fund-raiser, Shorty’s staff will sell tickets to raffle off prizes that include a variety of gift baskets, art work, and gift certificates to local businesses. Customers can buy a single ticket for $2, three tickets for $5, or an arm’s length of tickets for $20.

The café also sold advertising space on T-shirts being worn by its staff for $100 each. The shirts are rotated regularly throughout the week, so sponsors’ ads are seen by a variety of patrons. And, of course, donations to the meals program are gratefully accepted too.

As usual at Shorty’s, there’s little rest for the weary. The restaurant is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. It’s first-come, first-served (they’ll take your name for a waiting list at the door, if necessary) and it’s also a cash-only business, so go appropriately prepared.

Related (to the Meals On Wheels Program):

• Exelon Funds Help Sanatoga Agency Feed Seniors
• Sanatoga Meals Program Hopes You Can Help
• Patients Get An Exam, Meals Program Gets A Donation
• Conklin’s Comedy Benefits Local Meals Program
• Sanatoga Program Among Golf Outing Beneficiaries
• Shorty’s Café Gives Thousands To Meals On Wheels
• Meals On Wheels Honors 30-Year Volunteers
• Sanatoga Meals Program Needs Volunteers
• Patients, Public Made Chiropractor Donations Possible
• Shorty’s Holds Annual Benefit For Meals Program
• Notebook Worthy

Photo from Shorty’s Sunflower Cafe

HELPING TO FEED THE HOME-BOUND – Joseph Szafran (right), communications manager for Exelon Nuclear’s Limerick Generating Station, recently delivered a $5,000 donation to the Montgomery County (PA) Meals On Wheel program, represented by Program Director Shushma Patel. Meals on Wheels, which operates from the Family Services’ office on East High Street in Sanatoga, provides two meals on weekdays to an average of 170 home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Exelon has supported the program with a total of $13,000 in contributions during the past three years. The company’s donations have “made a great difference in the lives of seniors in the greater Pottstown area,” Patel said.

Photo from Exelon Nuclear

Joann Hunsicker, left, and Anne Wells.

SANATOGA PA – A non-profit group with offices in Sanatoga has singled out two area residents for their decades of dedication in delivering food to home-bound elderly and disabled individuals.

Joann Hunsicker and Anne Wells, both residents of Collegeville PA, have served as volunteer drivers for the Montgomery County Meals On Wheels program for 30 and 35 years, respectively, according to an announcement Wednesday (June 9, 2010) from Family Services of Montgomery County. The agency is headquartered in Eagleville and operates the program locally from offices at 1976 E. High St., Pottstown PA.

Hunsicker and Wells were honored during Family Services’ recent Meals on Wheels Volunteer Recognition Luncheon. Both make meal deliveries in the Lower Perkiomen Valley. “They have selflessly supplied their time and energy throughout the years, and we are truly grateful to have these women on our team,” said Alicia Adams, Meals On Wheels case manager.

Each weekday, Family Services provides two meals – a hot lunch and a cold supper to refrigerate – to an average of 160 individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Volunteers personally deliver more than 81,000 meals a year.

For more information call 610-326-1610.

Photos from Family Services

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Carefully prepared hot meals for lunch await delivery by volunteers.

SANATOGA PA – The Pottstown area Meals on Wheels program, which is operated from the Sanatoga village offices of Family Services of Montgomery County, needs volunteers to pack and locally deliver meals to home-bound elderly and disabled individuals, agency Marketing and Communications Director Karen Konnick reports.

Meals on Wheels provides two meals – a hot lunch, and a cold supper to refrigerate – Mondays through Fridays to an average of 160 residences in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. That’s more than 81,000 meals a year, Konnick notes, and it’s more than  nourishment, too: many recipients find the brief human contact with volunteers to be an uplifting part of their day.

Two shifts of volunteer workers pack meals each weekday from 8-10:15 a.m., and again from 10:30 a.m. to Noon at the office, 1976 E. High St., Pottstown PA. Then volunteer drivers set off on their rounds from 10:30 a.m. for about an hour, dropping off meals at specified locations.

Most volunteers commit to packing or delivering meals once a week, Konnick says, while others volunteer on a substitute basis.  Training is provided. Drivers must have a valid driver’s license, insurance and their own reliable vehicle.

For more information, call Ruth Hood at 610-326-1610, Ext. 226 or e-mail her.

Photo from Meals On Wheels Fairfield

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At work inside Shorty's on North Charlotte Street, Pottstown PA.

POTTSTOWN PA — Shorty’s Sunflower Café will host its annual fund-raiser to help pay for meals for local senior citizens and shut-ins, daily between April 7 (2010, Wednesday) and April 18 (Sunday) during regular business hours at the restaurant, 1494 N. Charlotte St., Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Funds raised from the event support the Meals on Wheels program of Family Services of Montgomery County, based in Sanatoga PA. The café is open Wednesdays through Fridays from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“Our staff and customers always look forward to our annual Meals on Wheels fundraiser,” said Liz Bieber, owner of Shorty’s.  “By participating in this event, we have a chance to be more involved in our neighborhood, help those most in need and do what we do best: feed the community.”

As part of the fundraiser, Shorty’s staff will sell raffle tickets for $2 each, three for $5, or an arm’s length of tickets for $20. Prizes include gift baskets, art work, and gift certificates to local businesses. In addition, the café is offering “space for sale” in the form of t-shirts the Shorty’s staff will wear during the week-long fundraiser. T-shirt “spaces” are available for $100.

Meals on Wheels provides two meals – a hot lunch and a cold supper to refrigerate – each weekday to an average of 160 home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley.  Community volunteers personally deliver more than 81,000 meals a year. For more information, call 610-326-1610.

Photo from Shorty’s Sunflower Cafe

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See our galleries for photos that appear in The Post. Got news for us? E-mail The Post.