Site manager has been with Horizons for 16 years

MarJoan Rhodes is the site manager of Meals on Wheels at Horizons, A Family Service Alliance, based in Cedar Rapids. Rhodes has worked at the organization for nearly 16 years. Meals on Wheels offers seniors and adults with disabilities ready-to-eat meals in addition to onsite-made frozen meals, breakfast bags and customized nutrition plans.

What is the nature of the work you do at Horizons?

I just make sure that the meals go out to the homebound seniors.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I usually get here between 4:30 and 5 a.m., and that's to greet any delivery people that come here, and then I usually leave in between 2 and 3 in the afternoon.

When someone receives the meal at their home, that's the final step in the process. Walk me through that process from step one until the meal is then served to a homebound senior.

We have route sheets, and we have 31 routes that go out every day. I go over the route sheets to make sure that they're in order and then I do the special meals, or those folks that do not like, say, spinach or potatoes.

I make the labels, which are called specials. Then I get the whole total count for the day of the hot meals. I give that to the kitchen, so they know how much food to prepare for that day.

Then we count out how many trays that we need for any given day. On a basic day, it's usually about 450 meals that go out of here every day. That's just our hot meals.

We count out the trays so we know exactly how many that we're using, so we don't have a whole lot of food leftover at the end. So then, we start what we call the tray line. That's where we have volunteers or some paid staff put the food into the trays and then the trays go down.

It's a sealing machine, and the meals are sealed, and then we pack them at the end of the line. We have two great volunteers that are here five days a week that they do the packing of those routes. That is the hot meal line part of it.

The coolers contain the milk that the client would like and any sides that we have for that day. Today was oranges and a cake.

You were a driver before your role as site manager, weren't you?

A long time. Diana, our director at the time, right at the year of the flood, made me site manager. I've been here almost 16 years.

What got you in to this line of work?

A good friend of mine. She tried for quite a few years for me to come in and be a driver, so finally I said yes, and I was probably a volunteer for four days and then she said that they wanted to hire me.

You are supervising from the time you arrive until when the meals go out. What is your role as all of these things are happening?

I've been called the hub of Meals on Wheels. If anybody needs anything or wants anything, I don't care if its masking tape, you just come to me and I'll tell you where it's at or I'll get it.

Why target this segment of the population with the meals that you're providing?

To meet our qualifications to receive meals, they have to meet two different standards: They have to be over the age of 60 and they can't drive a car. Those are the kinds of folks that need our meals delivered to them, because they can't get out to go to the grocery stores and get their foods.

A lot folks, they can't cook for themselves either. They can't stand up for any length of time, so those are the most needy of the population.

What is the most challenging part of what you do?

I think it all is, but that's OK because I like challenges, I like to solve a problem.