Saying 'Thanks' to Our Local Wal-Mart Friends

In March, Meals On Wheels of Stark & Wayne Counties received a $10,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation and Meals On Wheels Association of America. The grant will be used to start a new catering business that will generate revenue for the agency. We plan to kick things off with an event in September.

To show our appreciation for Wal-Mart's support, we invited area store representatives to our office for lunch to explain the grant and the plans for our business. Five representatives from Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the region joined Teresa Barry, CEO, Nora Logsdon, program manager and dietitian, and Tom Delamater, PR administrator, at a luncheon May 12 in our conference room.

Our guests were treated to a menu that included pepperoni chicken, beef braciole, twice-baked potatoes, pasta & vegetable pesto, asparagus tips with hollandaise sauce, glazed carrot fingers, spinach salad with bacon dressing, and assorted desserts and beverages. Sonny Sonnhalter, commissary manager, explained each of the dishes as examples of selections that might appear on the catering business's menu, which is still in the planning stages. Terri, Nora and Tom followed with an overview of the agency and additional long-range plans for the catering business. Afterward, Terri and Nora took the group on a tour of the commissary.

We're grateful for partners like Wal-Mart and Sam's Club and value our relationship with their local representatives in the region. We look forward to working together with them to further the goals and mission of Meals On Wheels of Stark & Wayne Counties.