Meals On Wheels Program Starts Monday At Hazlet Senior Center

HAZLET, NJ — The closest thing to having a home-cooked meal - with all the fun and none of the prep work - is coming to the Hazlet Senior Center starting Monday.

That's when the Interfaith Neighbors' Meals on Wheels lunch program gets underway in town.

The first lunch will be served at noon on Monday, July 17, at the James J. Cullen Center, 1776 Union Ave. The lunches are served Mondays to Fridays. You can see the menu here.

And all Hazlet residents - and nonresidents - age 60 and over are encouraged to join in the group or "congregate" lunches, or to participate in a meal delivery program.

There is a donation of $3 per meal - but it is just a donation, said Senior Center Director Denise Bucciero. Payment is not required.

One requirement, though, is that you need to call by 11 a.m. the day before a lunch to confirm your attendance the next day.

You can call Interfaith Neighbors at 732-888-4876 or the Senior Center at 732-217-8683 to reserve. For the first day, you should call by this Friday at 11 a.m. to get started in the program.

And Bucciero is looking forward to all the good things that can come from the group meals.

"It can be lonely at home. The congregate meals are social," said Bucciero. The meals are a great way to "meet friends and have conversation." And membership in the Senior Center is not required, she added.

Bucciero was familiar with the Interfaith Neighbors program in other towns, and was instrumental in making the arrangements with the organization to bring it to Hazlet. The service comes at no cost to the township, she noted.

Interfaith Neighbors says its program provides a nutritionally balanced noonday meal for approximately 3,500 senior citizens annually. It operates several "congregate" sites, now including Hazlet.

And Cheryl Schmelzle of Hazlet is the other special ingredient in making all of this happen: She will do the cooking.

Schmelzle said she has worked in similar programs in Bayshore towns and was first a volunteer and now a longtime employee of Interfaith Neighbors, which is based in Asbury Park.

The congregate meals are cooked fresh by her at the Senior Center. she said. The delivered meals are prepared in the Asbury Park kitchens and frozen for distribution, she added.

She said there is a brief referral process to go through for the delivered meals, which Interfaith Neighbors volunteers bring to homebound seniors.

Those who want to register for the delivered meals can contact Maria at Interfaith Neighbors at Nutrition Client Intake, 732-775-0525, ext. 221 or email your request to the Nutrition Program Senior Manager, Dante Agresti at dantea@interfaithneighbors.org.

Schmelzle said that once she gets started preparing lunch on Monday, diners can just visit her in the kitchen and let her know what other days they plan to attend.

"This way I get to know everyone," Schmelzle said, adding that diners also can still call in advance.

Plated lunches will be served weekdays at noon. Homebound seniors can order meals through the program and they will be delivered to their homes.

Daily lunch is a $3 donation and should be ordered 24 hours in advance. Special requests are a $4 donation and should be ordered seven days in advance, the township says on its website.

Schmelzle noted that "special" might mean a grilled cheese, rather than the planned meal. She does not prepare meals for special dietary needs, she said. The menu is subject to change, she added, based on food availability.

But Schmelzle doesn't seem worried about the prospect of cooking lots of lunches starting next week.

She said she's worked in programs all around the Bayshore, and often had to switch locations on a day's notice.

"I can adjust just fine!" she said.