SANFORD — Theresa Chevalier is all smiles as her regular Meals on Wheels volunteer delivery driver, Jack Garnsey, knocks on the door.

On Thursday, he was accompanied by Deputy Mayor Maura Herlihy. It was Community Leaders Day at the agency that oversees the Meals on Wheels program, part of the Southern Maine Agency on Aging program.

Chevalier, 88, said she can cook if necessary, but she claims she was never good at it, and these days, she doesn’t always feel like rattling the pots and pans.

“I like it,” Chevalier said of the meals program.

Many do. Each day, according to the Southern Maine Agency On Aging, 620 meals are delivered to homebound senior citizens in York and Cumberland counties. Of those, 290 are delivered to York County residents.

The good news is that the meals program in southern Maine, while belt-tightening due to federal budget cuts, has not had to institute a waiting list, as other Maine agencies have had to do.

But modifications have been made to the program, said Kate Putnam, SMAA’s director of development and marketing. The desserts used to be a lot more robust, and bread used to be served with every meal. But these days, reductions in federal financial support means the agency is trimming where it can; it’s got to somehow absorb a $50,000 cut back this year, Putnam said.

And while the agency is delivering five meals a week to each recipient, they’re delivered over four days.

On Thursday, the meal sent out from the Sanford meal site at Nasson Community Center was a chicken and vegetable pot pie, with broccoli on the side, and a spongecake-like dessert that looked a lot like a Twinkie.

The meals are made fresh, flash-frozen in Bangor and then delivered to the meal sites. They’re sent out ready for the recipient to microwave, or, in cases where the recipient isn’t up to that task, microwaved at the meal site and delivered hot, said Sanford meal site manager Deb Folsom.

In York County, the agency has meal sites in Biddeford, Eliot, Kennebunk and Sanford.

In Sanford, where a Journal reporter visited Thursday, a team of volunteer drivers deliver about 85 meals a day to locations in Sanford, Springvale, Lebanon, Shapleigh, Acton, Newfield, Waterboro and part of Hollis.

One of the drivers is Carl Dunn, a retired clergyman who, along with some others, started what became the Meals on Wheels program in Bangor through a pilot program under the Older Americans Act 50 years ago. Now, all these years later, Dunn remains active in the program.

Folsom is grateful for Dunn and all of the other volunteers who deliver the meals. The program couldn’t exist without them, she pointed out.

On Thursday, which was Community Leaders Day, while Herlihy was helping Garnsey deliver in Sanford, Alfred Selectman George Donovan was helping another driver deliver meals. It’s an event designed to involve local communities in the endeavor to bring meals to homebound seniors ”“ and to draw attention to the program.

As to the cuts, Putnam said the federal allocation is based on the number of meals served nationally in the prior year.

According to research released by the Augusta-based Meals on Wheels provider, Spectrum Generations, a study conduced by Brown University and the AARP Foundation found those who receive meals show improved health and quality of life. As well, those who lived alone and received daily delivered meals were more likely to report decreases in worry about being able to remain at home, and improvements in feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Spectrum Generations has recently announced it has had to institute a waiting list, and is reviewing two proposed pieces of legislation that would make Meals on Wheels a MaineCare-funded service.

In the meantime, the programs continue, but struggle. Putnam said the SMAA will step up its fundraising efforts to try and cope with the shortfall.

In Sanford, Garnsey and Herlihy ”“ and the other volunteer drivers ”“ continued their routes Thursday, delivering meals to the old folks.

Garnsey has been volunteering every Thursday for four years or more, and said he enjoys it.

“It’s a good program,” said Herlihy.

Disclaimer: Tammy Wells worked for the Meals on Wheels program in Sanford and Kennebunk about 20 years ago.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.