How Two Meals on Wheels Volunteers Helped Give New Life to Sylvia’s Home

A Crucial Need of Help

When Meals on Wheels volunteers Barbara and John Fox delivered food to Sylvia Wolfe on a bitterly cold day in 2021, the senior answered her door wearing several layers of clothing. Still, she shivered.

“Are you staying warm?” Barbara asked, her voice concerned.

Sylvia, a 70-year-old Bloomington native, shrugged sheepishly. “I’m doing OK,” she said, pulling her jacket tighter around her body.

Unsafe Living Conditions

As the three continued talking, Sylvia reluctantly revealed that her furnace wasn’t working. Disabled and without a job, she couldn’t afford repairs. But as Barbara and John stepped inside Sylvia’s home, they realized the furnace was only part of the problem. The house was literally falling apart. The floors were rotting, the leaky pipes spat out lukewarm water, and very few of the electrical outlets worked.

To make matters worse, trash covered every surface, stacked so high it touched the moldy ceiling. Tears streaming down her face, Sylvia explained that her live-in son had been a hoarder. When she tried to throw anything away, he became very upset. At a loss, Sylvia gave up.

Unfortunately, the clutter caused a mouse infestation. The rodents nested in Sylvia’s bed and gnawed holes in her dresser, pantry, and walls. Every morning, she had to shake mouse droppings out of her slippers. She even had to store her groceries in old microwaves. Otherwise, the food would be contaminated by mouse feces and urine.

Looking around the home, Barbara and John knew it was only a matter of time before the excessive amount of fecal matter and mold made Sylvia very ill. Worse yet, the house could catch fire or collapse with her inside.

“You don’t have to live like this,” Barbara told Sylvia, enveloping her in a loving embrace.

A Forever Home for Sylvia

Over the next two years, Barbara and John fought tooth and nail to give Sylvia the safe, clean home she deserved. They began by finding a local heating company to replace her furnace at no cost. Next, Barbara and John worked with Sylvia’s home insurance company to replace the roof. They also raised money through their church to cover the deductible.

Then, in 2021, Barbara applied to the City of Bloomington’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Department Emergency Home Repair Program on Sylvia’s behalf. Typically, the maximum allocation is $8,000. But thanks to Barbara’s advocacy, the program provided more than $115,000 to fix electrical issues, replace rotten flooring, mend plumbing leaks, mitigate mold, and upgrade insulation. To address other needs, Barbara and John started a GoFundMe campaign.

Today, Sylvia has a safe, warm place to call home. She also has two friends who love her unconditionally.

This story illustrates how meals are just the start. To millions of seniors like Sylvia, local Meals on Wheels volunteers provide lifesaving support during desperate times.