During COVID holiday season, Horry County Meals on Wheels brings Christmas cheer to seniors

The staff and volunteers of Meals on Wheels of Horry County gathered in the corner of a strip-mall office to plan the day’s mission - delivering gifts to the remaining 108 senior citizens in their care.

They have been at it for days. Their work of bringing holiday cheer to those stuck in isolation has taken its toll. Tears of joy and tears of sorrow flow freely during this Christmas season.

As they sorted the plastic trash bags stuffed with colorfully wrapped presents for each of their clients, they talk about the recent visits that stuck with them.

“She was so thrilled, um, just to- to have- a soft place to lay her head,” said Ken Krenzer, who reminisced about an earlier delivery that brought tears to his eyes.

Helping a Senior

This year the staff of Meals on Wheels went a step beyond their usual service of delivering food to home-bound seniors. Due to Covid-19, many are more isolated than ever.

The team came up with an “Adopt a Senior” plan to provide Christmas gifts to all their clients, and the community responded in a big way. In order to personalize the gifts, the seniors were asked to fill out a questionnaire listing their wants and needs.

“One of the big things we heard when we were making our calls was the number one thing they wanted was companionship,” said Michael Tyler, executive director of Horry County Meals on Wheels. “We’re really trying to take those extra steps to make it joyful, full of love, and combat that senior isolation.”

When pressed, many seniors admitted that they would welcome physical gifts too. Stuffed in the bags were Kit Kat bars, diabetic socks, cozy blankets, a back scratcher, and myriad other items. All donated by individual sponsors that had checked their lists twice.

Angie Moncrief, an operations director, related a story about a man that needed a 44-inch walking cane and how an 80-year-old volunteer woodworker whittled the gift himself. Another client needed a recliner with easier access. A corporate sponsor provided the electric chair that would lift the senior to his feet and she delivered it to his home.

Who gets help?

To complete this holiday miracle, Santa and his elf- in the form of 67-year-old Bruce Squires and Patricia Marlow - hauled the gifts packed in the back of Squire’s mini van that served as his sleigh.

Santa, who is on nasal oxygen, needs to stop occasionally to catch his breath, but that doesn’t keep him from calling out a booming, “Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas,” from behind his plastic face shield as they make house calls. The residents can surely hear them coming, as the bells on Marlow’s green elf costume jingle all the way.

At their first stop, Vertie Mason sat in her recliner wrapped in a quilt as Squires and Marlow stacked gift bags around her and chatted about the season.

Mason dissolves in tears as she thanks them for the visit as they prepare to leave.

The scene played out much the same at each of the six Myrtle Beach homes the volunteers visited last week.

In Mary Jackson’s apartment, she pulled the plastic flower bouquet out of the top of her gift bag and exclaimed, “I love flowers!” As she gave Santa a hug, she spotted the other volunteers outside her door. One of them is 10-year-old Oliver Crosby with a set of reindeer antlers adorning his head.

“Hey baby,” she shouts and waves. Jackson hurried to the door to be met by Crosby who offered her the antlers. She could only politely decline.

At other homes, the volunteers and clients laughed and joked sharing a moment together, breaking the isolation they have felt for months. At the door of one man’s apartment the mood turned somber. The emotion overcame him as he explained his children live far away and rarely visit.

Squires and Marlow just listened, each placing a compassionate hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Truly they are overlooked in our community,” Marlow, the Elf, said. “They are the windows to our past and they have paved our future in this country. So, five minutes of just sitting and talking to them… because right now especially with COVID, they are so isolated. That’s all they want is a little bit of your time.”

This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 10:29 AM.