Meals on Wheels | Double the impact, twice the love: Couple finds purpose in serving others

The couple that volunteers together, stays together — or at least that’s true for Carmine and Lucy Esposito.

The husband-and-wife duo have volunteered for Meals on Wheels of Hood County together for five years.

Carmine first started volunteering for Meals on Wheels in 2013 following his retirement from Williamson-Dickie, an apparel company that was founded in Fort Worth, where he served as senior vice president of sales for the U.S. and Mexico.

“When I was retired, I was looking for something to do to be involved in the community, so the senior center, Meals on Wheels was one of the organizations that I started getting involved in,” Carmine said, who also served as president for Mission Granbury and is currently treasurer for Ruth’s Place.

A few years later, he encouraged Lucy to volunteer for Meals on Wheels with him.

“He said, ‘You want to do it with me one day?’ I said, ‘I don't think I'm really into that.’ Then I went once and that was it. I said, ‘I love it,’” Lucy said.

She serves as the "smiling face” for the residents in the program, and said she loves “meeting people” and “bringing cheer.”

“It's not just delivering meals,” Lucy said. “I mean, we've called 911 on people, reported people on the floor, people not well. It's a wellness check on them too.”

Serving together for Meals on Wheels brought the couple closer to each other — and their community.

“We were looking for something to do together because we're both involved in other organizations volunteering, so this was a great fit, to be able to do it together,” Carmine said.

Lucy was a dental hygienist for 30 years before working at the Brazos Pregnancy Center for 16 years. She currently works at New Beginnings Resale Shop, one of Mission Granbury’s programs.

“We like to be able to volunteer and give back,” Carmine said. “We feel that we've been blessed, and we'd like to be able to help those that are in need, so we look for organizations that could use some help and service the needs of the community.”

The pair also serves regularly in their church, St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church in Acton.

“We're both what's called secular Franciscans, looking to follow Christ the way that St. Francis did and reaching out to those that are in need, so that was really the foundation, always looking to see about helping others,” Carmine said.

Lucy also helped encourage her quilting friends to volunteer for Meals on Wheels, inspiring them to start a route on Wednesdays.

“We get as much joy serving others because we give to them and they give back,” she said.

Originally from New York, the Espositos moved to New Hampshire after they got married, where they resided for 20 years before deciding to move to Arlington in 1993.

“Arlington? Not a fan,” Lucy said, with a laugh. “It was too big a city for me. I was looking for a small town.”

The couple came to Granbury in 1998, and in 2017, they moved to Pecan Plantation. This year, they will have been married for 51 years.

“We are so fortunate to be in a community like Granbury because Granbury is such a giving community with all of the different organizations that we see or that we help support,” Carmine said. “There's a number of people in Granbury that help support all of the many charitable organizations in town and that's what makes Granbury so great. It's a giving community, and people willing to help.”

When they’re not serving the community, Carmine enjoys golfing and playing pickleball, while Lucy works on her quilting.

“You can’t play all of the time, but you can’t work all of the time either,” Carmine said, with a smile. “The best way to keep active is to help serve others.”

Lucy encourages Hood County residents to volunteer for Meals on Wheels if they can, as a new route just opened.

“They need a lot of volunteers,” she added. “We’re just one of many, and they don’t have enough.”

For more information on volunteering, contact the Hood County Senior Center at 817-573-5533.