Meals on wheels keep seniors' bellies full
Kong Weixiang prepares lunches to be delivered on Tuesday.
Kong Weixiang rides his e-bike packed with lunches for seniors.
Picking up meals at 9:15am at the Yangjing Subdistrict comprehensive senior service center in the Pudong New Area, 51-year-old Kong Weixiang rode his e-bike to deliver meals to 38 seniors in the subdistrict on Tuesday.
The entire trip took about two hours. When the last person received lunch, the food was still warm.
Kong's schedule has been quite routine over the past three years. He arrives at the senior service center at 8:30am, picks up lunch boxes from the canteen and puts them inside an incubator, and delivers them to seniors' homes one by one regardless of heat, rain or snow.
"The time I arrive at each household is fixed regardless of the weather, and I seldom arrive late or early," Kong said. "Many seniors wait for me at their doors when the set delivery time approaches. They're anxious if I don't turn up on time, and it's my duty to ensure their meals are hot and delivered on time."
Some of the seniors live alone, have mobility issues or face financial hardships.
"It's a race against time to some extent, particularly on unexpected occasions such as elevator failures or bad weather because each late arrival will affect each subsequent delivery," he said.
A native of Xuancheng, Anhui Province, Kong had been preparing to return home for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year holiday to visit his son and 2-year-old grandson — but the pandemic ruined his plans.
"I was really excited because I haven't seen my grandson in person since he was born," Kong said. "I even picked my departure date and we were planning to have nianyefan (New Year's Eve dinner) together. But the sudden resurgence of COVID-19 forced me to delay my plans. It will certainly be a lonely Spring Festival, but everyone has to be responsible."
Zheng Shao receives a lunch box from Kong.
Instead, he will have nianyefan with his wife who is also in Shanghai.
Kong started working in the city in 2013 and delivered milk in the past.
"I will wait until the pandemic wanes and cook a belated family reunion dinner," he said.
The seniors Kong delivers meals to live at more than 10 different residential complexes that are at least one kilometer from each other.
A majority of the buildings do not have elevators, which means Kong usually has to climb five or six flights of stairs.
He walks more than 10,000 steps daily.
At 9:35am on Tuesday morning, Kong's first customer, 87-year-old Zheng Shao, stumbled to open the door with a crutch.
"He arrives on time all the time despite rain or snow, which isn't easy," Zheng said. "The elevator has broken down twice over the past three years, and he climbed 15 floors each time without complaining. He was sweating when he arrived, which moved me. Because my leg is not well, I usually wait in advance at the door."
"I know each of their names and basic situations, and view all of them like my own family members," Kong said. "They like chatting with me."
There are sometimes unexpected situations. Once, his e-bike broke down. Another time, snow made the roads slippery and Kong had to slow his pace and leave home earlier to make his deliveries on time.
Once, a customer wasn't home.
"I was really concerned and contacted the neighborhood committee immediately," he said.
It turned out the senior was hospitalized, much to Kong's relief.
During summer, he delivers meals to 50 seniors due to higher demand.
Kong rings a doorbell during a delivery.
"Kong wins the hearts of seniors with his sincere attitude and sense of responsibility," said Lu Xiaofeng, head of the Yangjing community canteen.
Yuanyuan Catering, which operates the canteen, has 96 out-of-town employees who will stay in Shanghai during the holiday.
Among them, 64 had planned to travel to their hometowns but ultimately changed their minds.
"Our canteen will be open for them during the holiday with subsidies provided," Lu said.
The average age of seniors receiving meal deliveries is around 80, and some received the service for many years until they died.
"We update the list regularly as we receive names from neighborhood committees, and sometimes names are deleted which always makes us sad," he said.
Each lunch with four dishes costs 13 yuan (US$2). There is no spicy food and the dishes are easy to digest.
Sometimes, dinner is also delivered for seniors living alone.
"Seniors say the meal deliverers visit them more frequently than their own children," Lu said.
When seniors are sick, Lu said his team calls their children to remind them to visit.
