Volunteer: Hank Verboomen, 84, Meals on Wheels

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Volunteer Hank Verboomen packs food for Meals on Wheels on Sept. 13 at the Alfred Rubin Riverwalk Community kitchen in Naperville. Verboomen also delivers them, usually working at least two full mornings a week. | Steve Buyansky~Sun-Times Media

Updated: October 4, 2011 2:09PM

A friend asked Hank Verboomen to fill in one day — just a couple hours helping prepare meals for frail and homebound senior citizens. That was more than 15 years ago.

“I just stayed on,” Verboomen said of his volunteering with the Meals on Wheels program sponsored by the DuPage Senior Citizens Council.

Verboomen, 84, is one of 18 men and women throughout the country who recently received the council’s Ambassador Club recognition for volunteering 250 or more hours in the past 12 months.

A Naperville resident since 1965, Verboomen worked in the financial division of a steel processing company before retiring. The father of daughter Laurie and grandfather of two noted that much of his volunteering stems from his membership in the Kiwanis Club, which he joined 22 years ago.

Working in the DSCC’s Naperville site kitchen, Verboomen packages the Meals on Wheels dinners and also delivers them, usually working at least two full mornings a week. “I also fill in for anyone who doesn’t show,” he said.

“Hank’s an institution here,” said Diane Skrabacz, the council’s development associate.

Some days, Verboomen said, he’s the only one packaging meals, but he says the camaraderie among the volunteers is a favorite part of his experience.

“I’ve made some friends there,” he said. “It’s fun. We have fun in the kitchen, too, and I’m acquainted with all the drivers. I put the food in carriers and bags, and load them up.”

Often Verboomen is one of about 11 daily volunteer drivers, delivering meals to six to 10 people during about a four-hour period, depending on the route.

“Some (recipients) recognize you when you come in,” he said. “Some are handicapped, and you have to bring in the meal and put it on the table.

“We always need drivers. Some are women with small kids; some are self-employed businessmen. They take time to take a route. And we’re always looking for substitutes, too.”

He also volunteers on the day each month when his Kiwanis Club takes over the kitchen, and he takes his turn on a daily delivery route manned by club members.

Those who receive help should not be stereotyped, Verboomen said.

“We have people from all walks of life, ladies, men, people of every color,” he stressed.

“It’s quite heart-wrenching sometimes, because some of the people are in bad ways, financially and physically. But it’s not only people who have needs (who are clients). It’s also the shut-ins; they can’t drive. A number have caregivers.”

Verboomen previously was honored with a Volunteer of the Year award for one of DSCC’s nutrition sites.

“But I don’t want to tout that,” he said. “I’m just happy to do it. When you’re widowed, you want to do something. It helps me, and I really enjoy what I do.”

Nominate a volunteer by emailing columnist Sandy Stevens at wordsbysandy@gmail.com