Hawai`i Meals on Wheels Founder Irmgard Hormann Named Honolulu’s “Outstanding Senior Volunteer”Irmgard Hormann, founder of Hawai`i Meals on Wheels, was recently honored with the “Outstanding Senior Volunteer” Award at the Mayor’s 44th Annual Senior Citizen Recognition Program at the Hawai`i Convention Center. The April 8th event honored individuals and organizations for their contributions and support of Hawai`i’s older adult population.
Recognition for her contributions to the community is long over due. The daughter of a Lutheran minister, the 92-year-old Irmgard had developed a finely attuned social consciousness through her parents’ example, and could not bear to ignore the needs of others she saw before her. Thirty one years ago, Irmgard saw that older adults in Honolulu were not receiving proper nutrition and attention because they were homebound and virtually cut off from the rest of the community. Her solution: she would bring the community and hot meals to them.
“I’ve experienced great joy in working with Hawai'i Meals on Wheels. One feels that one has done something that is very much needed. We cannot forget the people that we serve and we must reach out to help them,” Irmgard said.
As the founder of a new, start-up nonprofit organization, Hawai`i Meals of Wheels, Irmgard, a librarian for the State of Hawai`i, did it all herself at the beginning. She personally delivered hot meals to homebound seniors and disabled people, recruited a board of directors and all of the volunteers, organized volunteer appreciation luncheons and teas, including cooking, baking, providing silver tea service and serving. She also performed all of the administrative duties prior to hiring an executive director, including collecting funds, filing taxes, filing for and obtaining nonprofit status. Irmgard also coordinated and planned all major events during the first two decades of the organization.
But her fondest memories are of delivering meals. “I remember my brother and me taking meals to an older Japanese woman isolated in a tall apartment building. She would always go to her front balcony and wave to us and blow us kisses as we exited the building,” Irmgard recalls.
Irmgard helped to recruit others from her church to volunteer and has recruited church groups of other denominations, creating a multi-faith group of original volunteers. She also recruited her relatives to help out on delivery routes. In her role as a delivery driver, she has had the opportunity to bring personal interaction to lonely seniors and created opportunities for other drivers to help homebound clients.
According to Claire Shimabukuro, Hawai`i Meals on Wheels executive director, who nominated Irmgard for the prestigious award, “Irmgard is an older senior and yet her energy and ability and compassion for others is alive and vital… She is warm, giving, intelligent, compassionate, has an amazing memory, is always pleasant and is remarkably up to the minute – as a 92.5 year old, she even uses email!”
“The volunteer’s most outstanding and evident trait is her humbleness and refusal to acknowledge her truly great contributions to our community. She refuses to take credit where it is due and always talks about her volunteering with self-deprecating grace and with humorous stories punctuated with lots of laughter and twinkling eyes,” Claire wrote in her nomination.
In its infancy, Hawai`i Meals on Wheels had just six clients, six volunteers and two routes. By contrast, in 2009, Hawai`i Meals on Wheels served more than 500 homebound clients with 400 volunteers along 43 routes throughout Oahu, clearly showing how far the organization has come over the years.
“Irmgard continues to inspire us as a speaker at our functions, such as our annual appreciation lunch and represents our organization as a revered kupuna when speaking to seniors about elderly volunteering,” Claire said.
In addition to Hawai`i Meals on Wheels, Irmgard has volunteered for the Friends of the Library, IHS (Institute for Human Services), Lutheran Church of Honolulu, and FISH (Faith in Service of Humanity, another organization she founded, which offered volunteer drivers to take seniors and disabled individuals to their doctor’s appointments.
Mahalo Irmgard for your boundless energy!
