Newsmaker
Monday, June 22, 1998
Name: Gladys Lenchanko
Age: 77
Education: McKinley High, Honolulu Business College
Occupation: Volunteer
Hobbies: Cooking, crochet
At age 77, Gladys Lenchanko spends her retirement taking care of the elderly as a volunteer in the Meals on Wheels program. Nourishing with food, spirit
"More people depend on younger people like me to help them with that program," said Lenchanko, who was recently named Meals on Wheels volunteer of the year.
"We have a lot of them that's 80 to 98, there's a couple over 100." she said. "The main thing is not just to give them a balanced meal, but to get them out of the house."
Lenchanko's day begins early. She wakes up between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Sometimes she'll pick up pastries or other donations before she arrives at the Kaneohe District Park by 7:30 a.m., and helps prepare and serve meals for about 40 senior citizens until 11 a.m. The rest of the morning, and into the afternoon, she picks up food and delivers meals to others who can't make it to the meals program at the park.
She takes any extra food to groups that feed the homeless.
The senior citizens get a meal every weekday for a dollar. The program gets funding from the state and federal government and from private donations.
Lenchanko and her husband began volunteering with the Meals on Wheels program when she retired in 1980. She worked in purchasing at a commissary, and uses some of her old contacts to get food donations for the program.
"I'm just one of those persons that can't sit still," she said.
Lenchanko also serves as president of the Kaneohe Seniors Club and serves on the Windward-Honolulu Community Action Program, the Honolulu Nutrition Program, and an advisory panel for Kaneohe District Park.
She suffered a stroke and has a pacemaker, but her medical condition did not keep her from her volunteer work for long.
"The doctors told me to slow down, but they know I can't slow down," she said. "I enjoy doing things."
An injury to a tendon in her foot just meant Lenchanko came to work with a cane.
Why does she do it?
"You have to have a feeling you did something," she said. "It's a labor of love. I have satisfaction. I'm helping my fellow man."
By Craig Gima, Star-Bulletin
