If Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan ever finds herself in need of a new job, she might look to the food delivery business.
Wednesday was the nationwide Mayors on Wheels day, part of the Meals on Wheels program, where 1,040 city mayors across the states volunteered their time to deliver nutritious meals to area seniors.
This year was Mayor Hanrahan's fourth time participating in the campaign, which she said brings awareness to a "critical service."
"It's more than food being delivered," Hanrahan said. "It's a chance to give seniors some connection to the community."
ElderCare of Alachua County, an outreach program of Shands Hospital, sponsors Meals on Wheels. The organization runs 16 food delivery routes daily to about 200 people throughout the county.
Additionally, 715 people are on the waiting list to receive other services provided by ElderCare, such as personal care, emergency alert response and help around the house.
Those who receive Meals on Wheels must be over 65 years old, with the average age being around 70.
Every weekday morning, 13 volunteers visit the small office just off of Northwest 39th Avenue to pick up two coolers - one for hot meals and one for cold - and a map of their delivery route.
Depending on the day, additional donated food may line the hallway for volunteers to deliver. Wednesday, extra food included cardboard boxes filled with bags of multi-grain and cranberry bagels.
ElderCare Executive Director Anthony Clarizio said a hot meal is the obvious benefit of the program, but a more telling benefit is the company the volunteers can provide by checking in with seniors.
"Many folks are home-bound and don't have family or friends they can call on if they need help," Clarizio said.
Clarizio said volunteers are continually needed. When a volunteer can't run a delivery route, one of the three ElderCare staff members must deliver food.
Events like Mayors on Wheels are great because they put a spotlight on senior nutrition, leading to an increase in volunteers and financial support, he said.
But this halo effect often fizzles out after a period of time.
"Financial support is our biggest need," Clarizio said.
He said the program has completely run out of funds and is actually on track to overspend. If this happens, Clarizio said he must come up with a way to make up that money.
In total, ElderCare runs on a roughly $2 million annual budget, which stems from federal grants, private donations and company sponsorships.
It costs about $100 a month for seniors to have a hot meal delivered to them daily.
Last year, Clarizio said the program came within 68 cents of its projected budget.
"If I could, I would have found a way to spend that too," he said.
