By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

LIBERTY — Local residents will be able to start Saturday morning off right with a pancake breakfast whose proceeds will help Meals on Wheels continue to help others.

Pickens County Meals on Wheels will host the pancake breakfast from 8-11 a.m. Saturday morning at the McKissick Center for Senior Wellness in Liberty.

Tickets are $5 each and can be ordered in advance or purchased at the door Saturday. The breakfast includes pancakes, sausage, juice and coffee.

The breakfast is part of the March for Meals campaign, PCMOW program coordinator Marsha Robertson said.

“It’s a nationwide, monthlong celebration of Meals on Wheels,” she said.

In addition to filling bellies Saturday, the breakfast is a way to introduce the community to the local Meals on Wheels program and its needs.

“We’re always looking for volunteer drivers to help,” Robertson said. “We depend solely on volunteer drivers to deliver meals to about 200 seniors every day in the community, Monday through Friday. There are about 22 routes that volunteers cover in making those deliveries.”

Volunteer drivers are welcome, no matter what their availability. Some drivers deliver every day. Others give of their time once a month.

“Whatever their schedules allow,” Robertson said. “We’re willing to work with them.”

PCMOW drivers deliver more than meals. For many area seniors, a visit from a Meals on Wheels driver is the only social contact they may have in a day. Visits from drivers help seniors fight isolation.

If you’re not interested in driving, there are other ways you can help.

“We produce all of our meals at our center in Liberty,” Robertson said. “We have needs for volunteers to help prepare our meals for delivery in the mornings. We also need volunteers in the kitchen in the afternoons to do food prep for the next day.”

A third opportunity for volunteers is helping with programs.

“We have a senior activities center,” Robertson said. “There are opportunities for adults to come in and help with some of the activities at the senior center, primarily in the morning.”

To purchase breakfast tickets in advance, email marsha.robertson@pcmow.org or call (864) 712-0289 or (864) 855-3770.

To volunteer, “drop by, give us a call or check out our website,” Robertson said.

Pickens County Meals on Wheels is located at the McKissick Center for Senior Wellness at 349 Edgemont Ave. in Liberty. For more information, call (864) 855-3770 or visit pcmow.org.