The MCH Kitchen Appeal Committee celebrated breaking ground for the kitchen expansion at the Methodist Conference Home in Rockland on Monday, August 8. Meals for the Knox County Meals on Wheels program are prepared here five days a week.  The expansion will increase the organization’s capacity to prepare hot, home-delivered meals for older adults and people with disabilities living independently in Knox County, as well as Methodist Conference Home residents.

MCH Kitchen Appeal Committee members are Leslie Fillnow, chairman; Susan Thomas, vice-chairman; and Lois Stackpole-Alley, John Burstein, Sherrie Gibson, Peter Gross, Lee Karker, Dyke Messler, Marnie Read, and Karen Cadbury, committee consultant.

Every morning, Meals on Wheels staff prepares hot, home-cooked meals in its small kitchen in the Methodist Conference Home in Rockland. Last year, more than 30,000 meals were delivered. An exceptional group of community volunteers delivers meals to every part of Knox County. Another 4700 meals were served at senior meal sites in Rockland and Camden. 

The program has grown significantly in recent years. The new kitchen will modernize the existing kitchen, built in 1969 in the Methodist Conference Home at 39 Summer Street in Rockland. Construction for the expansion is due to be completed this winter.

The Meals on Wheels program in Knox County is operated through a subcontract with Spectrum Generations.