Couple have stepped up as hospital volunteers
Married 60 years, they have delivered more than 900 meals
Lorraine Bonk finds volunteering as natural as breathing.
“I started when I was 17 and have done something ever since,” she said. “It always gives us purpose no matter what age we are.”
Lately, she’s been volunteering with the home-delivered meals program at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital in Palos Heights, joined by her husband, Bill, who began volunteering for the hospital 11 years ago. The Orland Park couple, who celebrated their 60th anniversary in April, have delivered more than 900 meals for the program thus far.
“I’ve worked at Lincoln Park Zoo, a candy striper at the hospital,” Lorraine said. “It never ends. My husband never had the chance to do it in his early years because he was providing for the family, but there came a time when it was time to step forward. … For me it’s been a lifelong blessing.”
One of her other volunteer opportunities was with hospice at the former St. Francis Hospital & Health Center in Blue Island.
“That job was difficult as it could be, but was very sacred,” she said. “You need to make time for others. I guess it just needs to be that way for me.”
For Bill, volunteering keeps him “physically active and mentally sharp.”
“And I feel it’s good to be needed,” he said. “I think you get a good feeling when you know you’re helping someone, especially someone who’s in need.”
The couple are responsible for delivering meals within about an 8-mile radius, Lorraine estimated.
“I go to part of Orland (we live in the northern tip) and I go further south. I do more driving and less meals, and Bill does more driving but fewer meals,” she explained, adding that the routes are determined ahead of time depending who is receiving them.
“From what I understand, it’s people who don’t have much
family but who for medical reasons are stuck at home. They, or someone from their family, pay for the meals,” Lorraine said.
“Our end is making sure they get the meals. Dietary restrictions are labeled for us. …. They do so much. We’re the end result of all the work.”
Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital’s meal program provided more than 8,000 meals in 2020, according to a news release. The pandemic led to an increased
demand because of the number of older adults sheltering in place.
Bill said the hospital has three routes to cover every day.
The task isn’t something the couple takes lightly.
“We want to be precise with the right meals,” Lorraine said. “The hospital wants to make sure they get the right food for the right diet.”
And the visits sometimes stand in for well-being checks too.
“If we can’t reach them, the first thing we do is call,” she explained. “We call the alternate number and then the volunteer office. …. It’s very possible that they aren’t in a position to answer the door. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.”
This winter, the couple really stepped up their efforts, delivering meals five days a week.
“The coordinator calls and says ‘You’re not going to believe this. A couple of people are out sick,’ ” Lorraine said, acknowledging how much more she and Bill volunteered.
“The pandemic has changed things and made it a pretty hard
winter. … We drive safely in our cars, we’re familiar with some of the ins and outs of it. He’ll double up on a route,” she said. “There have been months where the paid people who run this program have had to take on (delivery of food) themselves.”
One of the bonuses of volunteering is the people they meet while delivering food, although the pandemic has reduced some of the contact they once had with clients.
“We don’t always hand over the meals. We use bags and masks because of the pandemic,” Lorraine said. “Sometimes the client answers the door and sometimes it’s a health care worker.”
“There’s one man, a former Chicago policeman, on my route and we always talk about what’s going on in the neighborhood,” said Bill, who worked as a coach and physical education teacher at Quigley South High School in Chicago. “He was a policeman in the area where I was teaching.”
“It’s just fun. These people are a riot,” Lorraine said. “I see that they’re making an effort to connect with us and us with them.
“The food becomes a bonus. It’s the conversation and when someone smiles at you and opens the door. One lady says she can always tell the weather by what (we) have on. That’s all part of the volunteering experience.”
And it’s not just the human residents of homes who look forward to their visits.
“There’s a Jack Russel dog who answers on my route, and he’s on a leash,” Lorraine said with a laugh. “He’s guarding the house. He’s as happy to see us as anyone else. I love animals. ... The dog is happy and the health care worker is happy to have that done.”
Donna Nadelhoffer, Volunteer Services manager at Northwest Medicine Palos Hospital, knows the important role volunteers like the Bonks play.
“This program is not just about the food they deliver, it is about the human kindness they give to each person,” she said in a news release. “If someone is lonely, Lorraine would make sure to give that client a cheerful card every week. They handed out flowers on their own and much more. Most of all they made a meaningful connection with each person, adding sunshine to each delivery.”
One of the connections the Bonks have made is with Jim Evans of Orland Park, who gets meals every weekday through the hospital program.
“Sometimes they sit there and talk for 10 to 15 minutes,” he said. “They’re really good, nice people.”
Evans, who will turn 87 in September, appreciates the effort as well as the service.
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “I know I’m getting the right kinds of food and not junk food, you know?”
Speaking with the Southern accent he still has as a result of being born and raised in Kentucky, Evans admitted that although he likes most of the meals that show up on his doorstep, he doesn’t care for the fish.
“I was a cook when I was in the service (Army), and the way they cook it I don’t care for it. It’s not bad — I eat it. But all the other food I love. It’s good.”
Evans said he began getting meals from the hospital after talking to a social worker at the hospital while acting as the sole caregiver for his wife, who had Parkinson’s disease for 27 years. His wife has since died.
“The social worker came and talked to me about it. She said ‘You do the laundry, cook, everything.’ Then they talked to me about the meals program, and I’ve been on there ever since.”
Lorraine, a 14-year breast cancer survivor, is “so thankful she can tell their story” and urges other people to volunteer to deliver meals for the hospital.
“If there’s someone I come across, I tell them if you find yourself in a situation that’s very diverse and have a two-hour window of time, I tell them to do it. If it’s not a good fit for them, the people who do the coordinating understand,” she shared. “That same group would welcome you doing something else. There are so many opportunities out there.”