So on Wednesday morning, there was Jimmie Basinger in the Friendship Trays lobby, helping Morrison gather up the meals for a route.

Basinger mentioned a real estate colleague who asked for advice earlier Wednesday. This is the younger man's first experience with a housing slump; Basinger has survived many. You must be strong, Basinger said he advised. Get on the phone. Stay in contact with clients. Keep working at it and it will all work out. And he too was right – not just about selling homes but about succeeding as a nonprofit with an important mission.

A story in the morning's Charlotte Observer was a national roundup of cutbacks at meals-on-wheels agencies as gasoline and food prices rise, and as government monies either are cut or don't grow to cover rising costs. Read the story at the Observer or in a text cache should the original story fall offline.

[A broader story on cutbacks of senior assistance programs across the nation was published July 5 by the New York Times. Text cache.]

The July 2 story didn't mention this meals-on-wheels program in the Observer's backyard. And perhaps for good reason:

Friendship Trays does not depend on government grants. It also is not a United Way agency. Its roots, since its 1976 founding, have been in faith communities, in small and large businesses, and in the generous support of people looking after their Charlotte neighbors.

Friendship Trays is of course being buffeted by high gasoline prices. Some food costs are up. But for board members and staff, the key worries are about volunteers and whether some will be unable to afford to continue driving. (Volunteers pay for the gas they use while driving Friendship Trays routes.)

Routes are being reshaped to increase efficiency ("Rebuilding" story below). And more drop locations are being created throughout the community (related picture, above left) to bring meals closer to the volunteers who drive routes near where they live or work.

Last month, Friendship Trays opened a satellite facility at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church where more and more volunteers serving the Beatties Ford Road area and neighborhoods to the north will soon pick up their meals, cutting their driving time.

The children were children, but as a work team they were just like their adult peers from Wachovia on June 25 or from Duke Energy on May 23 or from Compass Group in March 2007: They listened carefully to instructions on their packaging duties. Then they donned aprons, hair nets and gloves and set about their work.

They stuck at the mission until the work was done. They were focused and energetic.

Friendship Trays will continue to stick at its mission, serving the ailing, the infirm and the homebound who are unable to prepare their own meal. Friendship Trays will continue to depend on the generosity of thousands of people in Charlotte-Mecklenburg who, by volunteering their time and talents and treasure, are determined to act to make this a better place for their neighbors.

You can help. In these summer weeks when regular volunteers are on holiday, we need some people to e-mail Volunteer Coordinator Lani Lawrence to schedule when they can help out.  And we need folks to donate the funds that keep the pantry stocked.