Interfaith Neighbors

Neighbor Spotlight | It’s a Family Affair

Beth Paterno, Director of Senior Nutrition/Meals on Wheels Program & Mike Paterno, Volunteer

In 2019, Beth Paterno joined the Interfaith Neighbors Senior Nutrition/Meals on Wheels team. A retired schoolteacher and daughter of Interfaith Neighbors founder, Joe Marmora, Beth wanted to follow her father’s lead and help to support the mission of Interfaith Neighbors. She initially thought she would be helping out part-time, but she soon became engaged in the work and is now the full-time Director of the Senior Nutrition/Meals on Wheels program.

It’s been challenging since Beth became Director of the program. Shortly after starting, we were faced with the start of the COVID-19 health pandemic. Beth and the rest of the Senior Nutrition team came together to update safety protocols, recruit and train new volunteers, as many of our senior citizen volunteers understandably stayed home in the early days of the pandemic, and worked tirelessly to keep the program up and running on a daily basis. Those that relied on the home-delivered meals needed the program’s support more than ever. Many days Beth was on the road delivering meals herself, filling in for an absent delivery person.  She brings to the program dedication and a passion that is infectious.

“I work with an incredible staff every day.  It has become a happy place to work and volunteer for everyone who is part of the program. Since coming to the program I have reflected how in moving from being a teacher to director of Meals on Wheels, the two roles are both service and family oriented. In my role as a teacher, I connected with parents to help ensure their children’s success. Now, there’s a bit of a role reversal. I connect with children to talk about their parents’ needs for living healthy, successful lives,” says Beth.

In October 2020, the program was facing some staffing shortages in the kitchen due to normal attrition and the impact of the health pandemic. Each day, the Interfaith Neighbors kitchen prepares the 1,100 plus meals that are delivered to seniors across the county. Beth’s husband Michael (Mike) Paterno saw the need for help and volunteered to help out in the kitchen for a few weeks. After a few weeks, he was hooked on the program too, arriving each day at 4:00AM, helping the kitchen run a little more effectively and with a lot more excitement. Music and singing can now often be heard coming from the Meals on Wheels kitchen in the early morning hours.

“Getting up early, knowing I am helping people who wouldn’t necessarily eat if they didn’t get their meals is a really rewarding way to start each day,” says Mike about his volunteer service.

Over a year and a half later, Mike still arrives in the early hours of the morning and works for four hours preparing meals before heading out to his job in pharmaceutical packaging. He rarely misses a morning and has become a real mentor to the younger members of the kitchen staff. He loves to joke that his wife Beth is now his boss!

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