Lifelong delivers healthy Thanksgivings to sick people around King County

Every Friday, for the past two years, Seattle’s Annavon Romano and her boyfriend, Steve Teller, drive out to a Skyway trailer park to deliver groceries to Dennis Watson.

The brown bags are always full of fresh produce, and this week there are Thanksgiving treats, like whole turkeys and bread cubes for stuffing. Steve and Annavon are two of many volunteers with Lifelong, formerly Lifelong AIDS Alliance, a nonprofit that has expanded its services to help people who suffer from all sorts of illnesses.

Lifelong’s senior director of programs, Brandon Gillespie, said the grocery delivery is part of their Chicken Soup Brigade.

“The Chicken Soup Brigade is the food and nutrition arm of Lifelong. We produce abut 150,000 medically specific meals per year and about 36,000 bags of groceries all over, mostly King County, for people living with chronic illness such as HIV or other chronic illnesses.”

Dennis lost his leg to diabetes 14 years ago. When he opens the door, he’s in a wheelchair and explains that losing his leg caused him to lose his job and the life he once knew.

“It was traumatic for me because I went from being a go, go, go guy all the time to, ‘You can’t go anymore.’ What are you going to do now? I’m home, I have to stay home, I don’t get out. I read books, lots of books.”

So his weekly grocery delivery is about more than just the food. Steve and Annavon are sometimes the only people Dennis sees all week.

“This is totally not only just the food, but a social event for the people that we see,” Steve said. “We really spend a little time chatting, you know, a couple of minutes. It seems to brighten their day. I know it brightens my day.”

The Chicken Soup Brigade delivers 2,800 meals a week and Brandon said their clients depend on them.

“All of our clients are under 300% of the federal poverty level. A lot of them are individuals and they don’t have a lot of family. Ninety percent of our clients say they wouldn’t know where their next meal (would come) from if it wasn’t for the Chicken Soup Brigade. So we really are kind of their last resort.”

But their last resort isn’t just a jumble of processed cans and boxes. The bags are filled with fresh vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy, grains, and lean proteins. The groceries are extremely healthy, as are the frozen meals that are specially catered to each client’s dietary needs.

“We produce all the meals from scratch,” Brandon said. “We’ve got an executive chef, we’ve got nutritionists, registered dieticians that consult and help design all the meals. They are all American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association compliant.”

Delivering these weekly meals to three clients only takes Steve and Annavon an hour, but that seemingly small contribution hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“These guys are just fantastic,” Dennis said. “I mean, they are just wonderful, they really are. I mean, I prefer these two people to everybody.”

Lifelong is always looking for volunteers. If you want to help, click here.