- [Worker] That and broccoli.

My daughter's gonna running ragged, it's graduation tomorrow.

- Yeah, I got a friend, her grand baby is graduating Monday.

We're having Sloppy Joe's, cauliflower, and a banana, and broccoli.

- This is our kitchen.

It's kind of quiet in here now.

But starting around five o'clock in the morning, we're pretty hopping in here.

- Neighborhood House has a 130 year history of serving the Peoria community.

On a daily basis, we're delivering about 900 meals throughout Peoria and Tazewell County to home-bound seniors who are unable to shop and/or cook for themselves.

- See y'all later.

I'm gonna take 'em for a nice trip.

- [Julie] The people who are drivers are really mission driven.

They're doing it because they love what they do.

- Load that in.

There we go.

Okay.

Well some of the people I see, most of 'em are seniors and a lot of 'em are lonely, you know?

I don't want to see people suffer.

Some of these people don't get no meal unless it's me.

- But more than just a hot meal, it's that chance for a daily connection.

- Get out and make that meal because I got two for this meal and one for the single.

Banana, roll, and they are ready.

- [Julie] Many of the seniors live alone and they don't see anyone other than their Meals on Wheels driver.

- Good morning!

- Oh, good morning!

- They're really looking forward to having that interaction, even if it is just for a brief couple of minutes.

Social isolation and loneliness is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

- He's very nice and I appreciate everything that he's doing.

I appreciate bringing the meals and I enjoy it and I thank him so much.

I appreciate everything that they doing and thank you all.

- And I'll see you on Monday.

- Okay then.

I'll see ya.

(Paul laughs) - Uh huh.

And that's that.

- The work that we do is so important, not just from the nutrition standpoint, but from the mental health standpoint as well.

- Sometime they don't want us to leave, but I'm only there for a certain amount of time, 'cause I have so many deliveries to do.

(Paul knocking) Mr.

Raymond, good morning.

I'm almost like a therapist.

I'm going to visit these people but I'm making sure at the same time, they okay.

(Paul and Mr.

Raymond laugh) All right, you have a good weekend.

Thank you.

I always speak to 'em and make sure they okay before I drop anything off to 'em.

When I start calling them by their name, see, I learn their name, and they like that.

"You called me by my name."

I said, "Yeah, I know you."

He said, "All these people you deliver to, and you call me."

I said, "Yeah, because I know my people," 'cause I want to treat them, you know, the way I want to be treated.

The people, like I said, they appreciate us coming.

(Paul knocking) And it's good to see the smile when you go up to the door.

- Well, thank God for Neighborhood House.

Really, seriously.

'Cause this has been a big help for me.

- Well, if I wasn't getting this every day, I would have to do a little bit of scrounging, you know, see where I can scrounge.

- Yeah.

Yep.

And I check up on you too, right?

- All the time.

(laughs) - All the time.

All right.

You have a good weekend.

- All right.

- People are not eating and things are so high, you know, especially for these seniors.

They scared they might get in trouble or if they say something or you know, you're not gonna get a response.

(Paul knocking) - If there are any seniors or even family members who recognize they have an older parent that is maybe home-bound, this is not an income based program.

It is based on ability.

And so regardless of your socioeconomic status, you could qualify through Older Americans Act Funding and I encourage you to call us here at Neighborhood House and we can get you started on that process.

(car horn beeps) - This guy I'll usually honk at.

(car horn beeps) Come on out here.

Good to see you, brother.

- Hey, good to see you.

The prices got too high, so, you know, this is a great help.

We haven't given up on one another and about loving our community and loving one another.

- [Paul] Good morning!

- Say good morning.

- Good morning.

- It helps a lot.

It does.

There's times when my mom isn't able to get up and want to actually cook, so that way she has the meals coming.

It takes a village, literally, to help a community and they have been that village.

(Paul knocking) - Hi.

- Hi.

- I'm a home care provider for Evelyn Coach.

She's 99 years old and Meals on Wheels is a great help for us.

He's faithful, nice.

We really look forward to seeing him when he comes.

It's very important because a lot of families can't afford food the way the prices are right now.

They can't afford a lot of things.

So this is a big help.

(car horn beeps) - You see so many people like struggling in the world and it's so easy to be cold hearted and to be indifferent and mean towards people and they .

.

.

Go above and beyond for them.

It's nice, it's refreshing to see in this time.

- But really, the community is so key to helping us be able to continue to do what we do.

They can donate by going to our website, NHpeoria.org and there's a place where they can make donations and they can specify if they want that funding to go to Meals on Wheels or to one of our other programs.

- Thank you guys for all you do for Evelyn, and thanks for this big help right here.

- Good to see you, man.

- You know that.

There's good people out in the world, really good people, and I'm just giving back to 'em.

This is my fourth year, going on five.

And if I can go 10 more, I'll do 10 more.

(laughs)