Gainesville resident Elias Segarra depends on Meals on Wheels volunteers to provide some food and a friendly face. Thanks to a fund-raising campaign by local attorney Wyc Orr, more than 100 seniors will soon join Segarra in receiving the free lunch service.

Meals on Wheels is an elderly nutrition program housed in the Gainesville-Hall Community Service Center that delivers hot lunches Mondays through Fridays to homebound residents. Some of the 138 people on the waiting list have been on it for more than two years, said Milon

Christman, program coordinator. Orr helped raise between $65,000 and $70,000 in the past 18 months, which was paired with matching funds from local, state and federal governments. Those on the list are expected to start receiving meals by June 30 or as it becomes possible administratively.

“He (Orr) put a private face on a public problem, and people were inspired to take action,” Christman said at a news conference Monday with Gainesville Mayor Danny Dunagan and Richard Mecum, Hall County Board of Commissioners chairman. “To say that we are living in such a giving community is an understatement.”

Orr said he felt he played a very small part in helping to eliminate the waiting list and heaped praise upon Christman, Phillippa Lewis Moss, director of the Gainesville-Hall Community Service Center, and Jim Mathis of the North Georgia Community Foundation, which set up a dedicated fund for the program. Houses can hide hunger, but teamwork brought this problem to a successful conclusion, Orr said.

“It’s really a victory for the community at large,” he said. “The community foundation and private donors played in instrumental role in eliminating this waiting list.”

The community service center is jointly operated by Gainesville and Hall County and provides community outreach programs including free income tax preparation, Meals on Wheels, the Senior Life Center and the Hall Area Transit system.

“Government can give money, but it’s up to you as the volunteers to make it happen,” Mecum said. “You’re what makes it click, you’re what makes it move. You’re the ones who show that we in this community are concerned about a better quality of life for those who are less fortunate than ourselves.”

The program currently serves about 350 seniors in Hall County and Gainesville, with 60 percent of participants in the county and the rest in the city. Christman said it takes about $860 to feed one person annually. Service has been reduced as both the city of Gainesville and Hall County have made cuts in center funding in the past few budget cycles.

“Now, just because we are erasing the existing waiting list doesn’t mean we are done with this job,” Christman said. “Each and every day older adults in our community and across the nation make the transition from fully abled and independent to frail and needing assistance. Once the waiting list goes to zero, it will start to climb again.”

For people like Segarra, the brief visit and chat may be the only human interaction he has in a day. The 82-year-old recently lost his wife, and he said he is alone. He also has some medical issues, including problems with his knee and hip and lung disease. After the news conference Monday,

Dunagan and Mecum brought him his lunch.

“Meals on Wheels is great for me,” Segarra said. “I’m happy to see you.”