On Nov. 17, Butler County Meals on Wheels will celebrate 40 years of delivering meals to the homebound.

“I’ve been with the program for 16 years and very little changes because everything works so well. The community is wonderful to this program,” said Mary Patacky, the Butler program’s director.

She is one of its five paid employees, including two other office personnel and two chefs.

The rest of Meals on Wheels’ work in Butler is carried out by 185 volunteers — 30 working on any given day — and a list of willing substitutes.

Their clients are individuals homebound either by age, illness or other medical conditions.

“We have wonderful volunteers. We have a few who have been with the program the entire 40 years,” Patacky said.

Madeline Golec, a Butler County native living in Butler Township, is one of those few.

After 40 years of volunteering, she still makes it to Meals on Wheels’ Butler headquarters at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on East Jefferson Street every Thursday morning. But she also goes in whenever she is needed.

“It seemed like a good idea on Nov. 16, 1969. I liked the idea of providing meals and the fact that we were independent (not a government agency),” Golec said.

In 1968, Golec retired from Armco, where she had worked in personnel relations, the traffic department and production planning during her career.

She decided to spend her time helping the homebound, working for an organization that boasted about 40 total volunteers and just 15 clients.

“When we started, I was a deliverer, then they needed some help in the kitchen, so I went to the kitchen. I’ve done just about every job there, especially when we started out,” Golec said.

Although the Butler program has lost some volunteers to the stumbling economy because they are forced to return to work, more volunteers are always welcome, Patacky said, and the group always finds a way to keep helping those in need.

“We service about a 10-mile radius, and we can serve up to 150 people per day,” Patacky said.

The Butler program operates on a budget of $182,000 a year, averaging about $5.68 per meal, less than a combo meal at McDonald’s, home delivered.

“We really try to watch how we spend our money here. Our clients pay about 60 percent of the cost, and the rest comes from donations and fundraisers,” Patacky said.

In addition to the Butler program, Meals on Wheels operates out of three additional locations in Butler County: Penn Township, Connoquenessing and Zelienople.

Golec, who also has served as the organization’s day chairman (like a supervisor), treasurer and secretary, said that has always been the case.

“When I first started, many times, there wasn’t enough money to pay the bills, but it always seemed to work out,” Golec said.

“Meeting so many people, in the kitchen and through delivering, there is a feeling of camaraderie. And the gratitude of most of the clients is very rewarding,” Golec said.

At age 90, she has a son living in Allegheny County who is nearing retirement, a daughter in Wisconsin, three grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

Now, Golec, who Patacky called “one of the strongest volunteers we have,” has passed the torches of board meetings and delivery to others.

She spends her volunteer time making and packaging desserts for the Meals on Wheels clients she has served for nearly half a century.

“I don’t know whether it’s my calling, but it’s certainly a big part of my life,” Golec said.

“People hear you’re 90 and they want to close the doors on you, tell you to sit down. Well, I don’t sit yet.”

<b>Address: </b>St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 218 East Jefferson St., Butler<b>Director: </b>Mary Patacky<b>Serves: </b>150 per day<b>Number of volunteers: </b>185<b>Budget:</b> $182,000 a year<b>Phone: </b>724-285-3815<b>Web site: </b>www.mowaa.org