Rich Perry, Director, Community Service and Social Justice, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. 

We are excited to announce that Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas is our 2022 Mary Bartholow Volunteer of the Year award winner! 

For Rich Perry, Director of Community Service and Social Justice at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, the VNA Meals on Wheels volunteer experience provides a critical Catholic teaching concept: solidarity.

Perry’s question is always, “How do we demonstrate actively with care and concern for those who are marginalized in our communities?” Perry continues saying, “our students have the privilege of encountering those who require meals which is essential. However, something else is essential—and that is the conversation,” he says.

Each Wednesday, Perry’s students disperse across Dallas County, delivering between 34-40 routes. From September 2021-May 2022, the Jesuit team delivered over 12,000 meals. Students of various backgrounds and experiences are paired together for their delivery experience. New friendships develop and over the course of the year, the concept of “pursuing together” is underscored. Some of the students have never left their own neighborhoods, while some are delivering meals to clients in the same neighborhoods in which they reside.

The students unpack their service experience when they return to campus each week and it’s there those reflections and meaningful conversations about their service take place.  Topics include compassion, inclusion, circumstance, neighbors, and solidarity.

Perry, who is celebrating his 20th year at Jesuit and his 18th year in the role of Director of Community Services and Social Justice, says the job is his spiritual calling. The development of compassion in young men and the spiritual encounter itself is what drives his passion.  Perry cannot stress enough the gratitude he has for VNA and the Meals on Wheels program. He says, “Meals on Wheels has opened doors that would otherwise not be opened for our students and that impact has been profound.  Meals on Wheels is contagious.”

In 2016, volunteer Tonie Smith was looking for something to fill her time as she had recently retired.  VNA Meals on Wheels fit the bill and she began delivering meals regularly.  In 2018, she recruited friends Marsha and Danny Saenz and they delivered their routes together.  During the pandemic, the threesome continued their commitment to volunteer by making virtual deliveries as well as in-person frozen and shelf-stable meals deliveries. “Doing deliveries with good friends helped during the pandemic,” Tonie said. 

Eventually, Tonie and Marsha decided it was time to expand their delivery family and began working with Marsha’s daughter, Kelly Arnold and Marsha’s brother, Gary. Soon, it truly was a family affair! 

Together, the family covers the Mesquite 206A route EVERY Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Now the family is even considering sharing another route in the Rowlett area! 

They have all grown close to their clients and their families and will do anything to ensure they are receiving their meals—often backing one another up to deliver if a conflict arises. 

If you are interested in delivering meals in Mesquite or any other area, please log in to your volunteer portal at https://volunteer.vnatexas.org/landing to get started or contact the Volunteer Team at 214-689-3222.

To start the refresh process, sign out of your VNA Meals on Wheels app and completely shut down the app.  If you are unsure how to completely shut down the app, here are the instructions to do so:

For Apple devices:

• iPhone 8 or older Double click your home button (the circle button on the bottom half of your phone) and swipe the app up.
• iPhone 10 or newer Pull up on the line on the bottom of your screen and swipe the app up.

For Android devices:

• Click on recent apps, then close all.
• Click the square shape on the bottom half of your phone and close all apps.

If you need assistance with refreshing your mobile app, please contact our Volunteer Team at 214-689-3222.

We continue to work to provide additional resources for our VNA Meals on Wheels clients. Currently, we are out of stock on the following high-need items for our clients.  Please consider donating one of these items today to fulfill outstanding requests from our clients:

• Women’s Depends (Medium, Large, and XL)
• Men’s Depends (XL)
• Bedliners (All sizes)

Please consider purchasing one of our high-need items from our Amazon Wish List link below. These items will be sent directly to our Haggerty Kitchen and delivered to our senior clients.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3GBNVME3ZHD2U?ref_=wl_dp_view_your_list

We are always happy to hear from you and are here to help make your volunteer experience better! Thank you so much for choosing VNA Meals on Wheels!

Tracie Demery, Volunteer Engagement Supervisor

demeryt@vnatexas.org, (214) 689-2653

Karri Hopper, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator

hopperk@vnatexas.org, (214) 689-2209

Miriah Leddy, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator

miriah.leddy@vnatexas.org, (214) 689-2233

Jennifer De La Rosa, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator

jennifer.delarosa@vnatexas.org, (214) 689-2464

April Burns, System Support Analyst

burnsa@vnatexas.org, (214) 689-3220    

© VNATexas.org
1420 W. Mockingbird Ln., Suite 700, Dallas, TX 75247

VNA offers Meals on Wheels in Dallas County, and VNA Hospice Care and Palliative Care in Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Fannin, Grayson, Henderson, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman,
Navarro, Rockwall, Tarrant, Van Zandt and Wise Counties.

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