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Valley real estate group provides food for seniors
By Bob Jackson
LIBERTY
Sometimes blessings come in the most unlikely places.
Such as the back of a pickup truck.
When Jerome Williams and his 22-year-old nephew, Chester Mitchell, rolled up to the Norman G. Wagner Tower late Saturday morning in a truck loaded with Thanksgiving food for the residents there, they were welcomed and looked upon as miracle workers.
“I think it’s a blessing from God,” said Andrew J. Bennett Jr., 59, who was among the residents who thankfully received the food that had been brought to them.
Volunteers with the Youngstown-Warren Realtist Association, a local chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, spent Saturday morning filling food bags at the Hampton Inn on Belmont Avenue, then delivering them to residents at the Norman G. Wagner Tower on Market Street in Youngstown, Vasser Manor in Campbell and Tod Crossing in Warren.
Each bag contained a whole chicken, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, stuffing and string beans.
All told, some 200 people received a food bag from the organization, which has been doing this project for the past four years, said Williams, event chairman.
“We’re just trying to reach out to the community and let people know we’re here to assist them,” said Truman Greene Sr., president of the YWRA. “As professional real-estate agents, we feel it’s about more than selling houses. It’s about helping our community any way we can.”
Sheila Brantley, property manager at Norman G. Wagner Tower, said residents there appreciate the gesture and were excited to receive the food.
“This is overwhelming,” Brantley said. “Usually there is a very selective process when groups give away food. So for them to give to [everyone in] the entire building is heartwarming. It’s kind. It shows that Youngstown is a great community to live in.”
Williams said the first time he went out on a food delivery, he didn’t have enough bags for everyone because more people showed up to receive them than had signed up in advance. One woman, who had to be turned away, went back to her room and cried, and that left a lasting impression on Williams.
“After that, I decided that if we’re going to take food to a building, we’re taking it to everyone,” he said. “We don’t want anyone left out.”
Darlene Menton, 62, uses a wheelchair and lives in one of the apartments at Norman G. Wagner Tower. She said having food brought directly to her doorstep is the only way she and others there likely would have been able to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year.
“It would have been tough otherwise to get out and get a meal or get food,” she said. “Some of us can barely walk, so I think this is beautiful. We’re going to be able to sit down to a blessed meal that a lot of us would not have had.”
Williams said taking meals on the road for special delivery is exactly the point of the association’s Thanksgiving project. They target seniors who live in senior-citizen housing, are on a fixed income, lack transportation, or have physical limitations that make them unable to attend other food giveaways or meals.
“Younger people can get out and go get food bags like this a lot easier,” Williams said. “These older people can’t get out, so a lot of times they miss out. That’s why we make this happen.”
Mitchell said he enjoys rolling up his sleeves and helping to pack and deliver the food bags.
“If I was down, I’d want somebody to help me out,” he said. “It makes you feel good about yourself.”