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Click pictures to play
The newbie driver
Mecklenburg
County Commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts greets recipients on a blustry March
day.
The veteran
Mayor
Pro Tem Susan Burgess, returning to a neighborhood where she once helped
build Habitat houses, delivers Friendship Trays and makes the case for the
value of home-delivered, nutritious meals.
The substitute
Jere
Witherspoon is a committed volunteer. But he has no permanent obligation.
You can do what Jere does with young children, or with a parent. Follow Witherspoon on his route.
The volunteer
Watch actor Richard Gere
in a tribute to his dad's service delivering meals in Syracuse, N.Y. Friendship Trays is the
Charlotte affiliate of the Meals on Wheels Association of America,
which created these public service announcements.
Our thanks
A
short homage to the hundreds of volunteers who
play a key role in helping Friendship Trays in its mission.
Find niche, take action
"Poverty.
Homelessness. Hunger. It's all right here, within sight of Charlotte's symbols
of power and wealth." So begins a short video featuring Friendship Trays
Executive Director Lucy Bush on how to work on three key issues roiling the
community.
At the 2008 Driving Away Hunger Golf Tournament on May 5, Ronnie Thornton explains the lure of the game, and we showcase the golfers whose day on the links helped raise operating money for Friendship Trays.
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Watch this
space for updates and links to more details.
October Friends of Earth Fare. 17 Volunteer Dinner.
Scenes from 2007
event. November Book Fair, Joseph-Beth Booksellers.
Thank you
Volunteers are the heart and soul of Friendship Trays. Some of
their faces are atop each page of this website in gratitude for their service.
Friendship Trays
2401-A
Distribution St.
Charlotte, NC 28203
voice 704-333-9229
fax 704-333-5947
Delivering, in a caring and friendly
manner, balanced meals to individuals in this community
who are unable, because of age or infirmity, to obtain and prepare their own
meal.
for being visitor
since Jan. 29, 2007



July 18, 2008
Above, employees from Bank of America and Wachovia chat during a break. The two teams joined forces Friday to prepare meals in the Friendship Trays kitchen.
The talk during the break was of what the teams had been doing back in the kitchen -- how the meals follow recipients dietary restrictions -- and about how, at their levels in the big banks, the collaborative service spirit is the rule, not the exception. "We might be one bank someday," said one. "It could happen," said another from the other bank.
Break was quickly over, and the teams moved on to packaging pork chops and various vegetables for recipients.
"We appreciate every one of our volunteers," says Executive Director Lucy Bush Carter. "Friday brought together lots of folks who are serving customers through banking -- and serving their community through preparing the meals that ensure nutritious diets for their neighbors of any age who cannot prepare their own meal."
You can be a part of this 32-year-old community service by donating in support of the work, by driving a route, or by working in the kitchen. If you would like to volunteer for driving or packaging the meals in our South End kitchen, e-mail Volunteer Coordinator Lani Lawrence.

July
2, 2008
Real estate agent Margaret Morrison called Tuesday to say she and Jimmie Basinger would be in on Wednesday to drive a route. Given the holiday week, she said, she figured Friendship Trays would need some help. And she was right.
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.
Among the pictures above are those of some young people who were at Friendship Trays Wednesday. They are day campers at the Levine Jewish Community Center. Their week at Teen Camp is titled, "Be a Sport ... Lend a Hand."
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.
We are Friendship Trays, your meals-on-wheels program in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, thanking you for your support.

Charlotte artist Wallace Ervin, featured in Friendship Trays' recent holiday appeal, has agreed to display his work in the Friendship Trays lobby. Friendship Trays may display the work of other Friendship Trays recipients as it becomes available.
Ervin, a Charlotte native, says the three men who inspired the 1997 painting at right had gathered at Remount Road and South Tryon Street, just two blocks from Friendship Trays' current location.
The painting, which is for sale, may be viewed at 2401-A Distribution St. Call Lucy Bush at 704-333-9229 for information.
For more pictures of Ervin's work, click on picture.