This past March marked the 50th Anniversary of the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program, which includes our Homebound Meal and Community Cafe programs. In honor of this anniversary, we are highlighting our Rockstar staff that keep our programs running smoothly.
This month, we’re highlighting two staff members: Julie Hamill, one of our Homebound Meal Program Assistants, and Doug Patterson, our Dining Site Attendant.
Meet Julie, she’s been one of our Homebound Meal Program Assistants for almost 6 years! If you ask her what she loves about working here, she would tell you “it’s knowing that I help people!” She loves knowing that she is an integral part of our customers’ daily lives by being able to provide a nutritious meal to help keep them healthy and remain in their homes. It brings Julie joy when she hears meal recipients call and leave notes about how much they appreciate the meals and interacting with the volunteers.
Behind the scenes, Julie assists Kim (our Homebound Meals Coordinator you met in June), with answering phone calls and reaching out to follow up with customers and family members, and assisting with data entry to keep our program running smoothly. When she’s not at her desk, she’s busy packing meals, loading them into volunteer’s vehicles for meal delivery, and continuously cleaning to keep up with sanitation practices.
On a more personal level, Julie loves to spend time up at her cabin and four-wheeling. Her dram vacation would be exploring the heart of Middle Europe on a Rhine River Cruise. Her favorite quote reminds her to keep life fun and light, even in darker times.
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
~Vivian Greene
Changing tunes a little, meet Doug, a man of many hats that recently switched from a HBM Program Assistant to our community cafe Dining Site Attendant. He has been at ADRC for about 4 years now and agrees with Julie that what he loves most about working here is helping the people!
Doug starts every morning rocking out with the homebound meal program to help prep and package food. He assist with setting up the hot line and making sure that everything is kept at the appropriate temperatures. After meals are prepped and ready to go, he then runs across the street to Grounded Cafe where he and Bob (affectionately called “The Doug & Bob Show”) serve lunch to our community cafe guests. If you have not visited us while they are here, we invite you to come down for some fun, laughter, great company, and a nutritious meal that is served on a donation-basis for those 60+.
Doug loves everything to do with the band KISS, cars, and comics! His dream destination would be to walk the beaches of Normandy. His favorite quote is from a 1985 film, Vision Quest, which he paraphrased:
“We’re born to live and then die, each in his own way. That’s why we love people like there’s no tomorrow. Because when you get right down to it – there isn’t.”
We also asked both Doug and Julie, “If we gave you a magic wand to change anything about the nutrition program, what would it be?” Both quickly agreed that they would jump at the chance to “wish” for a larger building with its own kitchen where we could prep, cook, and assemble the meals.
