ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Meals on Wheels provides a dependable hot lunch daily for the home-bound and the handicapped. Although, that doesn’t mean the recipients are unable to be active. John Overstreet, Marine Corps Veteran, has received Meals on Wheels for 22 years following his accident.

“A drunk driver came across the median down there on 83-84 and hit us head on. Broke my back and my shoulder and knocked my head up a little bit,” Overstreet recalled.

While traveling far from his home out at Lake Fort Phantom is a bit of a chore, he still tends to the land around him and keeps everything in order.

“I take care of these three properties here, I mow the grass because these two are widows. And the Bible pretty much says take care of the widows and the orphans so I kinda do that too,” Overstreet explained.

And while he enjoys the solitude of living outside city limits, this solitude can often turn to isolation when the days get long.

“Its nice to have somebody that want’s to listen,” said Overstreet.

That open ear often comes by the way of his daily Meal. Volunteers like Claude and Betty Burton bring lunch, with a side of conversation, to all their clients on their Northside Abilene Route.

“I think it’s just a good inside feeling. That you’ve done something worthwhile. That you’ve done something that means something to someone else and that means a lot to me to be able to do that,” said Claude Burton.

Claude began delivering Meals on Wheels with his wife Betty in 1999, although she began 11 years earlier in 1988.

“I couldn’t have a better friend than my wife. And that’s a fact. I’ve got friendships, but there’s nothing like her kind of friendship,” Claude Burton expressed.

While he and Betty can’t make it all the way out to the lake, it’s volunteers just like them that bring the same care and conversation to Overstreet.

“I tell the drivers all the time I’m glad they volunteer, wish the world was more like that,” Overstreet said.

So whether you’re thankful for someone to listen, or a friend to check up on, Overstreet and Burton agree that “God is good,” as Overstreet said.