For 30 years, ML&R team members have stepped away from their desks around lunchtime, picked up meals, and headed out into the community.
The routes may change. The volunteers may change. But the purpose has remained remarkably consistent: delivering a meal, checking in on a neighbor, and spending a few minutes making a personal connection.
That simple tradition has become one of ML&R’s longest-standing community relationships.
As we celebrate our 35th anniversary this year, we are also recognizing 30 years of volunteering with Meals on Wheels Central Texas, an organization that provides nutritious meals, safety checks, and meaningful connections for older adults and others who need additional support throughout Central Texas.
What began as an opportunity to volunteer has grown into something that generations of ML&R team members have been able to experience firsthand.
“Meals on Wheels does so much more than deliver a meal,” said Meg Youngblood, Audit Partner at ML&R and former board president of Meals on Wheels Central Texas. “It provides consistency, connection, and care for people who rely on those daily visits. Having the opportunity to support that mission, both personally and through ML&R’s long-standing volunteer efforts, has been incredibly meaningful.”
A Lunch Hour That Adds Up
A Meals on Wheels route may only occupy a portion of a volunteer’s day, but over time, those hours have added up to thousands of individual moments of service.
In 2025 alone, 23 ML&R team members completed more than 100 deliveries and helped deliver more than 700 meals.
Behind each of those numbers is a person answering the door, a conversation, a familiar face, or simply the reassurance that someone stopped by.
That personal connection is part of what has kept ML&R team members involved year after year.
Jill Lewis, ML&R’s Meals on Wheels liaison, coordinator, and volunteer, said, “Our Meals on Wheels volunteer crew helps neighbors continue living independently in their own homes by delivering nutritious meals and offering a warm, personal check-in. Through our 30-year relationship with Meals on Wheels, we’ve had the opportunity to support some of our community’s most vulnerable neighbors with dignity, respect, and care.”
Growing Alongside Our Communities
As ML&R has grown, so has our involvement.
In addition to our long-running volunteer routes in Austin, we have added a route in Round Rock, and ML&R team members have also supported meal deliveries in Fort Worth.
The expansion has given more of our people an opportunity to participate, but the experience itself remains intentionally simple. Pick up the meals. Follow the route. Knock on the door. Say hello.
It is that simplicity that makes the program so powerful.
Meals on Wheels Central Texas has served the community since 1972, building a network of volunteers who help provide not only food, but also regular human connection and an additional layer of support for neighbors who may otherwise spend much of their day alone.
For ML&R, being part of that network for 30 years is something worth celebrating.
Not because of a single volunteer day, delivery route, or milestone, but because of what happens when people continue showing up.
One meal, one visit, and one conversation at a time.
