“It’s Something We Can Do Together”
April 5, 2018
“My parents did a lot of volunteering when they were younger. I guess it was just kind of in my blood.” That’s Beverly Darilek talking about why she and her husband, Larry Koch, began delivering meals for us two years ago.
Larry had just retired from IBM, the same place the couple met nearly four decades ago. Beverly was already retired, so the two decided to look for volunteer opportunities. “We needed something we could do for the community that was convenient to do and that we could do,” recalls Larry. “There are so many options to volunteer. But for some of them you have to have certain skills. I have friends that help people with taxes. There are people who do counseling. Well, I’m not the best counselor. But this (delivering meals) is something that just about anybody can do. So it works for us. It provides purpose.” Beverly agrees. “It really does provide purpose. And the clients, the people we deliver to are so appreciative,” she says.
The two serve as substitute drivers in the Round Rock and Pflugerville areas – filling in whenever regularly scheduled volunteers are unable to deliver their route – and it’s not unusual for them to deliver more than once a week. After they’ve picked up the meals from our Round Rock or Pflugerville distribution sites, Beverly drives while Larry navigates the way to clients’ homes. “It makes us feel good. It’s something that we can do together. Something we won’t argue about….too much,” she says with a laugh. “Unless we get lost,” her husband jokingly adds.
The couple encourages others to volunteer their time to help homebound older adults. “It really doesn’t take that much time and it’s just so worthwhile,” Beverly says. Yep, sounds like she surely does have volunteerism in her blood. Thank you, Beverly and Larry!