Elderly residents in Greenville County need prepared meals. Here's one way to help

At 85 and dealing with complications from osteoporosis, Virginia Rollins can no longer cook balanced meals for herself and her husband, Cecil.

She has to do most things sitting down and uses a cane or walker when she's on the move.

The Rollinses live alone in Greenville and their adult children live in North Carolina, so a helping hand is appreciated. 

Five days a week, Meals on Wheels Greenville provides assistance to them in the form of free meals, and the Rollinses were recently the recipients of the 12 millionth meal delivered in nearly 50 years of business.

The Rollinses, married for 63 years, have been clients of the organization since 2016.

Virginia Rollins described the containers of food they receive at their home as warm, balanced meals. The milestone delivery Wednesday was vegetarian chili, squash and mandarin oranges.

Sometimes the Meals on Wheels volunteers add a special treat. They bring cookies, Virginia Rollins said.

12 million meals and counting

Meals on Wheels Greenville serves roughly 1,500 homebound individuals throughout Greenville County and delivers roughly 1,300 meals on weekdays.

Barbara Burgess has been a Meals on Wheels volunteer for 32 years. Working alongside Catriona Carlisle, executive director for Meals on Wheels Greenville, Burgess was chosen to help deliver the meals to the Rollinses on Wednesday.

Doing so, was “an honor,” said Burgess, who delivers to two households in Mauldin.

Not only is being a Meals on Wheels volunteer a “great thing to do,” but “you get to meet a lot of great people and years after you have the same route, you get really attached,” Burgess said.

Living, working and retiring in Greenville

Cecil Rollins, a Gardner-Webb University graduate who worked as an electrician and upholsterer, will turn 90 in December and is “shooting for 100.”

He grew up in the West Gantt community, where he and his wife have lived since they’ve been married. He was 6-foot-3 when he played basketball at the former West Gantt High School. He said he’s a few inches shorter since his back has folded.

Virginia Rollins, too, said she has lost some height due to the bend in her back. She was 5-foot-3, but now doctors tell her she’s 4-10.

She grew up in Greenville’s Camperdown community and went to Greenville High School. She once worked at the shuttered Hollingsworth On Wheels plant off Laurens Road, serving meals to the company’s clients and out-of-town guests. 

She retired from Hollingsworth in 1991 after 20 years. Particles in the air within the plant aggravated her asthma and kept her in and out of the hospital, she said.

Whenever she drives – something both the Rollinses continue to do – her husband accompanies her because she uses a walker and needs help getting in and out of the car, she said.

Without the delivered meals, the couple would be eating sandwiches or soup.

Cecil Rollins describes Meals on Wheels as some of the best people you’ll ever meet, he said. His wife said the Meals on Wheels volunteers care about them, and the Rollinses also have children, "grands" and "great-grands" who care.

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How to help or receive meals

Anyone with a driver’s license and car is eligible to deliver meals. Children and students are also welcome to deliver with their parents or caregiver.

Interested individuals or groups can sign up to deliver by emailing volunteer@mowgvl.org or visiting www.MealsonWheelsGreenville.org/volunteer.

To qualify to receive Meals on Wheels, an individual must be homebound, and physically or mentally unable to prepare a hot, nutritious daily meal.