Every Wednesday and Thursday, Mike and Maureen Keating hop into their blue Toyota and head to Oak Forest Hospital to load their car with food.
But none of the food stuffed into their back seat ever finds its way into the Keatings’ Oak Forest home. Instead, the array of hot, cold and frozen meals is destined for homebound seniors, dependent on volunteer drivers such as the Keatings to bring needed nourishment.
After lifetimes of working, the Keatings are finding fulfillment in retirement by giving a few hours each week to deliver for the Meals on Wheels program operated by the Community Nutrition Network Inc.
About five years ago, Maureen Keating, 63, spotted an ad in their church bulletin asking for volunteer drivers for the program. Keating, a former school nurse, suggested it would be something nice for them to do.
“Well, like any husband, I thought, `What the heck do I want to do this for?’ ” said Mike Keating, 65, who retired as a teacher and counselor with the Chicago Public Schools in 1992. “But it really turned out to be a very special thing.”
“You don’t think you’re doing much, and (the clients) think you’re doing something great,” Maureen Keating said.
On their regular routes in Oak Forest, the Keatings deliver meals to 9 to 12 homes. They arrive at Oak Forest Hospital about 11:10 a.m. to pick up the meals–all of which consist of a meat or other entree, drink, vegetable or fruit, and dessert–and it takes up to two hours to complete their rounds.
That includes time to chat and look in on the people they serve to make sure they are doing well. As a result, the Keatings have developed lasting relationships with the clients.
“Sometimes you’re the only people they see in a day,” Maureen Keating said. “They think of you as a friend.
“You really care about your clients. If they don’t look good, we’ll report it. If they don’t answer the door, we’ll notify the contact person.”
On the few occasions when clients have died, it was especially hard. “That’s probably the saddest part,” said Mike Keating. “They’re family. They’re part of us, and we’re part of them, I think.”
The clients to whom they deliver consider the couple part of their family. Ruth Kerr noted that the Keatings have given her an Easter card or flowers with the meals.
“They’re the greatest,” she said. “They’re always cheerful, and they cheer up my day.”
Bob Englert, 83, laughed when asked why he looks forward to the Keatings’ visits. “I could say because I’m hungry, but that’s not the main thing. They’re just pleasant to talk to.
“They have a good heart. Anybody willing to volunteer to help us old goats has to be generous.”
The Keatings and other drivers, some of whom have volunteered 15 to 20 years, receive a free meal in the hospital cafeteria, where they all gather at the end of their runs. But knowing they are helping people stay in their homes and a warm-hearted feeling from doing something for others are the rewards that keep them coming back week after week, they said.
Last year, as the Keatings were walking down a hospital corridor, a nurse walked up and asked if they were volunteer drivers.
“You’re angels,” the nurse said, explaining that her father had been in the Meals on Wheels program before he died.
“I think that was the best moment we had in years and years, to be complimented like that,” Mike Keating said.
Maxine Pimmins, program coordinator for the network, said the Keatings are special. If she is short of drivers, they will bring in two cars and take extra routes, she said.
“They just seem to care. It’s more than just taking the meals, they care about the person.”
Maureen Keating finds the work similar to her previous work as a nurse: caring and helping others.
The Keatings are among about 50 volunteers for the program, which serves about 220 clients daily, said manager Lerotha Russell. Clients must be 60 or older or be disabled and living with a qualified senior, Russell said. The network gets funding from the federal government through the Cook County Area Agency on Aging.
Catholic Charities assesses applicants and refers people to the program, which provides three types of meals: bag lunches, hot meals or a week’s worth of frozen meals, she said.
In addition to Tinley Park and Oak Forest, the program serves clients in 12 towns.
Maureen Keating grew up in Nutley, N.J. She is the middle child of five children of Ed and Mary Long. Her father was an accountant and her mother a homemaker.
After graduating from St. Mary’s High School in Rutherford, N.J., in 1953, she moved to New York City to begin nursing school at St. Vincent’s Hospital.
“I always was interested in nursing,” she said. “There weren’t many things for girls to do then–nursing, teaching, secretary or get married.”
She completed the registered nursing program three years later and was hired in the pediatrics unit of a Newark, N.J., hospital. But a year later, she and a nursing school classmate embarked on a grand adventure in which they planned to work their way across the country before settling in Hawaii, she said.
Their first stop was Chicago, and that’s where her plan fell victim to Cupid’s arrow. She was working at Passavant Hospital, later absorbed by Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and living on the Near North Side. On weekends, she often would go to Clarendon Hills to visit a cousin.
One Sunday her cousin invited her to a church youth bowling league outing. At the end of the evening, she needed a ride home. Her cousin’s friend said he had a buddy with a car. That night Mike Keating, then a young Chicago schoolteacher, drove his future wife home.
Mike Keating grew up in the South Side Canaryville neighborhood, the second youngest of seven children. His father, John Keating, was an inspector for the Army Corps of Engineers; his mother, Margaret, a homemaker.
He graduated from Tilden Technical High School in 1951, then enrolled at Chicago Teachers College, now Chicago State University. He completed his bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1957, then earned his master’s in counseling and guidance from Chicago State in 1969.
He said it was love at first sight. She disagrees. But they did begin dating, and in 1958 they were married.
Maureen Keating worked for the Chicago Board of Health for a year until the couple moved to the South Side. She was hired by Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park. A year later, she took a job in a doctor’s office, where she worked until 1963, when the couple adopted the first of their four children. They have three grandchildren and one stepgranddaughter, she said. They have lived in Oak Forest for 36 years.
She returned to school in 1971 at the College of St. Francis in Joliet and got her bachelor’s degree as a school nurse in 1976. She earned her master’s in health administration from St. Francis in 1979.
In 1973, she went back to work as a school nurse in Atwood Heights School District 125, which serves Alsip, Merrionette Park and Oak Lawn. After 17 years, she took an identical post with Prairie Hills School District 144 in Markham. She retired in 1994.
Mike Keating taught elementary school, Chicago, for six years before joining the now-closed Hillard Adult Education Center, Chicago, in 1963. The center provided training and job skills for people on public assistance. He served one term each as Oak Forest alderman and zoning board chairman in the 1960s.
In 1969, he moved to the Industrial Skill Center, Chicago, which offered similar training to dropouts and those expelled from school. He remained there until he retired seven years ago.
The Keatings have become world travelers, exploring most of Europe, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. Their favorite destination is Ireland.
“Our roots are there. The people there are the most friendly. And they like to drink ale, and I do too,” Mike Keating said with a laugh.
Except for their vacations, the couple expect to keep their appointed rounds for a long time to come. Part of the reason, Mike Keating said, is the help his family received from charitable groups.
“As I grew up, I realized what it is to help people,” he said. “This gives us the opportunity to repay some of the people who helped us out.”
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For more information about the Meals on Wheels program of the Community Nutrition Network Inc., call 708-596-6680.
