This story is part of a series highlighting seniors doing exceptional volunteer work in the community. The stories were part of a special print edition distributed throughout businesses in town.
Connie Warmker’s love for volunteering in Eudora comes from the support her family received from the community during their own hard time.
Every week, she and her husband Don deliver meals for Meals on Wheels and visit between eight and 13 people.
Giving back in a community like Eudora is important to them, she said. Their great-granddaughter, Brooklyn Brouhard, died in 2022 during a hit and run.
“Eudora was wonderful. People we didn’t know showed up with food, with money. It was amazing,” Warmker said. “Just the outpouring of love that we felt.”
Her mother, who will be 95 in August, used Meals on Wheels, so she’s seen how important it is to members of the community.
Some residents use it because of vision impairment or other disabilities that limit their ability to leave the house, she said. Food is an important commodity, and Meals on Wheels helps fill any gaps, she said.
It also offers some conversation to those who may otherwise not talk to many others in their day-to-day lives, she said. They deliver to the same people most weeks, which helps build relationships.
Doing what they can to support the community has been important to her, Warmker said.
They feel blessed to be a part of a community as caring as Eudora, so the volunteer work reflects that, she said.