Kathie Heimerdinger and her “delivery angels” bring nourishing meals to cancer patients.
Meals 4 Health & Healing heimerdingerfoundation.com
It’s another ordinary Tuesday in Green Hills, but in the basement kitchen of Calvary United Methodist Church a small band of volunteers are working wonders. With smiles that never fade and a clear mission to motivate them, they tirelessly prepare and package dozens of healthy “super” meals to meet a deeply felt need: to nourish cancer patients throughout Davidson and Williamson Counties.
Chef Laura Rodriguez, who has written eight new recipes for the day’s work, pinballs from station to station as she cheerleads her helpers, most of whom are teens just learning to cook. Overseeing the proceedings is the program’s founder, Kathie Heimerdinger, smiling like a proud parent.
It’s hard to believe this highly efficient effort, called Meals 4 Health and Healing, is only three years old, but just this past December the organization delivered its 20,000th meal. Modeled after the Ceres Community Project in Sonoma, California, Meals 4 Health and Healing pair cancer patients with client liaisons who coach them in healthy eating and provide support as they undergo chemotherapy. Back in the kitchen, teenage volunteers learn culinary arts and nutrition science while they prepare dishes for the patients and their caretakers. Every meal delivered by the aptly named “delivery angels” includes a card signed by the staff and volunteers wishing them love and healing.
