Meals-on-Wheels Brings Food and Companionship During Harsh Winter

Maria and her late husband spent their fifty years of marriage in a modest hut with a dirt floor in the small town of Hirlau, Romania. A high-spirited, energetic 82-year-old, she now lives in an apartment in Vaslui, making ends meet with support from the Jewish community and JDC to supplement the low pension she receives as a former Russian teacher.

With the help of a walker, Maria moves briskly around her home, though she has difficulty going out, especially during the treacherous winter months. But because Vaslui is far from a large Jewish community that can provide meals-on-wheels, she receives monthly food packages that give her the staples she needs to cook for herself. Lonely without her husband, Maria looks forward to visits from her son, who also lives in Vaslui, and to deliveries from the Jewish community volunteer.

"Without this help," says Maria, "I would not be able to survive."