Reflections from a Caregiver: Frank is grateful for FeedMore WNY’s home-delivered meals

Before Frank was a member of the FeedMore WNY team, he first became involved with our organization when he enrolled his parents to receive home-delivered meals. At that time, a version of this story of Frank’s experience as a caregiver was published in The Buffalo News. Though Frank’s parents have since passed away, he remains grateful for their time with the program and has chosen to share his story again to continue to raise awareness for our home-delivered meals services.

Here is Frank’s story.

Growing up, I thought my parents, Fiorina and Salvatore, were invincible. Hard-working Italian immigrants, Mom and Dad were always passionate and full of life.

Yet as my parents aged and their health began to fail, I was forced to realize that my parents weren’t, in fact, invincible. Instead, the time had come for them to receive additional support.

Though I lived close to my parents and was able to check in on them, I was also a single father with a demanding career. With one sibling needing to commute from Canada to help, and another dealing with his own health issues, my other siblings and I knew it would be difficult for us to take care of Mom and Dad.

That’s when I called FeedMore WNY about receiving home-delivered meals for my parents. Through the home-delivered meal program, my parents received a cold meal and a hot meal every weekday. The meals were delivered by a volunteer in the late morning and provided my parents with easy access to nutritious food without any effort on their part.

Even more important, I knew that someone was checking in on my parents each day when I couldn’t be there. If there was a day when my parents didn’t come to the door to receive their meals, FeedMore WNY’s Social Work team always called me to make sure my parents were OK.

In their remaining years, my parents were able to live at home independently, side-by-side, for as long as possible because of the support of FeedMore WNY. Even now, I remain so grateful for their time with FeedMore WNY’s home-delivered meals. The program provides a huge safety net for older adults and homebound neighbors, offering daily nutrition, a full stomach and connection to the world around them. For caregivers like me, the daily well-being checks provide peace of mind.

I encourage everyone to spend time with the older adults in their life to make sure they feel loved and appreciated. And, if the time has come where they need extra help with meals, call FeedMore WNY.

Knowing the difference it made for my parents, and now as an employee of FeedMore seeing the impact on other families as well, I am grateful to be part of an organization that is making a difference and improving the lives of older adults and providing some peace of mind for their caregivers.