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Every weekday, Mobile Meals volunteers drive hundreds of miles to support their homebound senior neighbors. Charley Wood, Mobile Meals volunteer of 25 years, plans to walk them. Starting May 17, Charley will trek 500 miles across northern Spain to raise funds to provide meals and social support to the homebound seniors of Knox County.

Charley has dedicated almost every Thursday morning since 1995 to Mobile Meals, bringing hot meals and a friendly face to older adults that are frail, socially isolated, and unable to cook for themselves. 

“I started as a volunteer for Mobile Meals as a tribute to my mother,”  Charley said. “I lived about 100 miles from her and wasn’t able to do as much for her as I would have liked in her later years. Fortunately, other neighbors were there to help. I’ve tried to reach out to help the elderly in my own community. They are so appreciative of the meal but also the daily contact with a friendly volunteer.”

How far will your pledge go?

$0.05 per mile provides 7 meals

$0.10 per mile provides 14 meals

$0.20 per mile provides 28 meals

$0.50 per mile provides 70 meals

$1.00 per mile provides 140 meals

Where will he be walking? Featured in films such as “The Way” starring Martin Sheen, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela is a route that’s been followed by pilgrims for almost 2000 years. The route stretches across northern Spain, crossing two mountain ranges and a high, treeless plateau, and ends at the tomb of St. James in the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela. Charley sees this as a special kind of pilgrimage, dedicated to a program that has helped so many seniors stay safe in their homes.

More about Mobile Meals: Each weekday, over 100 volunteers deliver Mobile Meals to approximately 1,100 seniors who are unable to cook and have no one to prepare meals for them. With your help, Charley hopes to raise $50,000 to provide nutrition assistance and social support to Knox County’s older adult population.