Too frail to cook yourself?
Then the food comes on wheels.
The Bavarian Red Cross not only supplies seniors with meals - young people can also use the service.
The Tölzer Kurier accompanied the suppliers on a tour.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen -
Every day at the same time, the white station wagon with the red cross on the bonnet is parked at Tölz Jungmayrplatz.
And yet he stands out among the colorful vehicles of the various delivery services.
Especially the young woman with the black thermobox in her hand.
She delivers “grilled chicken thighs with boiled potatoes and spring vegetables” to an old, single lady who has ordered “Meals on Wheels”.
"Most of the time, the city security service leaves us alone, we hardly stand for a minute," says Anja Rottmüller.
She has been serving meals for the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) for more than six years.
The BRK delivers 180 warm meals a day throughout the entire district.
“365 days a year and in any weather,” says Anja Rottmüller.
Outside the temperatures are just minus 15 degrees.
"When delivery begins, the meals are over 90 degrees and are constantly being transported in thermal boxes, even on the way from the car to the front door or apartment door," explains Anja Rottmüller.
"At the end of the tour, the meals are still at least 65 degrees." She knows this very well because the temperature of the food is monitored.
Every day, 180 warm meals arrive at the front door of the BRK in the district
Alexandra Franke is sitting in her office on the Loisach in Wolfratshausen wearing a corona mask.
The BRK rented the rooms as the headquarters for this social service.
The trained administration expert has been leading the team of currently 30 drivers for around 13 years.
Most of them are mini-jobbers who use them to finance their studies or to supplement their pensions.
They have to cover eight different tours a day in the district, and if someone fails, a replacement has to be on hand immediately.
"Organizing this and avoiding unnecessary costs is a challenge."
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The BRK also has young customers like this 20-year-old Isarwinkler.
© Matthias Wilke
The customers are predominantly older people who often live alone.
Every now and then the Red Cross also delivers to young people.
“For example, if you are stuck at home with walking aids after an accident and cannot take care of yourself,” explains Alexandra Franke.
This is also the case with a 20-year-old from Greilingen, who was dependent on the culinary couriers of the BRK for two months after a serious car accident.
“The food tastes better than I initially expected,” he admits, which of course doesn't change his impatience to finally be able to go back to his job as a flight attendant at Lufthansa.
Another customer is a 100-year-old who still lives in her beloved Tölz apartment.
"In this case we have a key, because the old lady is in a wheelchair and cannot get to the door very easily," says Anja Rottmüller.
"But your son is often there around lunchtime and then takes the meal."
Many seniors are grateful for the lunch visit
Again and again, the drivers experience how grateful the seniors are for their lunch visit.
The couriers are in a hurry and usually do not enter the apartments due to Corona.
Nevertheless, the delivery is an important event in the daily routine of the people who can hardly leave their home and who get few visitors.
The BRK drivers always manage to ask how they are.
In doing so, they get to know their customers.
An 87-year-old woman from Tölz reports: “I don't miss a single Formula 1 race.
I used to enjoy driving myself and my passion for fast cars has remained. ”The senior citizen hears badly, but is always in a good mood.
Over time, the customers grow dear to the suppliers.
For example, a student who hasn't been on the driver team for long says: “Since I've been driving food on wheels, my opinion on the Corona issue has changed.
Before I thought, it's only the old people who die who have lived their lives.
Today I am worried about every single person on my lap and take all protective measures very seriously. "
Weekly frozen meals are also possible on wheels
Some seniors are on the customer list because they are demented and should no longer be at the stove themselves, but otherwise still get along well on their own.
“I am always amazed at the friendliness of some old people,” says Anja Rottmüller.
“They seem to be surprised every day that we care for them.
You say thank you so much every time.
For them, every day is a new, good day, and I always make up my mind to see it as a good example for myself. "
Meals on wheels are also available frozen.
Once a week, the recipients of this variant receive a box with seven different dishes - straight from the refrigerator of the BRK car, minus 24 degrees.
“The preparation is not a lot of work for the recipient,” explains Anja Rottmüller, who occasionally takes on the “cold tours”.
"You type the four-digit number on the packaging into the borrowed microwave, and it then automatically knows how long the cooking and preparation time will take with which performance."
(By Matthias Wilke)
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