Butler resident Peggy Loomis, left, and Evelyn Kennedy, who has volunteered for 15 years with Butler Meals on Wheels, prepare their meals for delivery last week. Loomis has volunteered with Meals on Wheels for 49 years.

Peggy Loomis has hauled hot meals along the same route every Tuesday for 49 years.

“They say 'You make my day,'” Loomis said of her clients. “Well, you make mine.”

Butler Meals on Wheels, a nonprofit organization that delivers meals to the homebound, celebrates 50 years of serving this year.

The kitchen inside St. Peter's Anglican Church, 218 E. Jefferson St., buzzed last week as volunteers gathered and chatted before it was time to make their scheduled deliveries.

In 2018, the organization served 22,755 hot meals and 10,525 sandwich meals, said Mary Pataky, Meals on Wheels executive director. A celebration is being planned to commemorate the milestone later in the year.

Five days a week, 30 volunteers help cook and deliver meals along a variety of routes to service the City of Butler and surrounding areas. The organization has 257 volunteers, said Sandi Sandrick, assistant director and volunteer coordinator.

Read more in Monday's Butler Eagle