Cheryl Daurer, the executive director of LaPorte County Meals on Wheels, is truly passionate about making sure the needs of her fellow community members are met. Under her leadership, LaPorte County Meals on Wheels provided its clients with over 100,000 meals last year alone.
In 2020, the Michigan City-based Meals on Wheels branch – established in 1974 and renamed the La Porte County branch a year later – merged with the Meals on Wheels branch located in La Porte to become LaPorte County Meals on Wheels. As the organization celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, Daurer looks back over her time with Meals on Wheels, expressing her pleasure with her job and the people she interacts with through it.
“Everything I've ever done has led to my current position at Meals on Wheels,” Daurer said. “I enjoy working with both the clients and the volunteers. Our clients are all unique, lovely, and fabulous. Our volunteers are amazing people. Only one paid driver makes deliveries every day; the rest are all volunteers. They pay for their own gas and give up their time to make the deliveries. I get to work with the best people in every aspect of the job.”
A Michigan City native, Daurer attended St. Paul School from first to eighth grade before attending Elston High School. Upon graduating, Daurer went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Valparaiso University in 1983. A year later, she began working for the service management company Aramark, working in healthcare and schools. Daurer then began working as the food service director at Memorial Hospital. At this point, she got married and paused her career for several years to raise her three children.
When she began working again, Daurer returned to St. Paul, serving first as the Christian education coordinator and then as an assistant in the school office. In 2012, Daurer began working with the Meals on Wheels location in Michigan City as the volunteer coordinator. She was later promoted to her current position as the executive director of LaPorte County Meals on Wheels, a job she continues to thoroughly enjoy today. She attributes the success of her branch to the tireless efforts of her fellow workers.
“I’m just a little cog in the wheel,” Daurer said. “I humbly say that because the wheels don't turn without my amazing staff and the volunteers. We have a very active board of directors, and they’re amazing. We also belong to Meals on Wheels America, so we receive a lot of resources from them. I do contribute, but I’m just a small piece of it. It really is a big wheel with a bunch of cogs.”
During her time with Meals on Wheels, Daurer has seen that the company’s volunteers help their clients in a variety of ways, some of which may not be recognized by the general public.
“Our mission is to enrich the lives of the homebound seniors and disabled people in our community by providing them with hot meals on a daily basis,” Daurer said. “However, there’s another aspect of what we do that is only noticed by the clients and their families. Whenever we knock on a client’s door and deliver them a hot, healthy meal, we're also checking on them. There have been times when clients’ lives have literally been saved by a volunteer. Once, a client was in diabetic shock and, when one of our volunteers discovered this, they made sure that the person got to the hospital. This client is now healthy, happy, and still receiving meals. Making that human connection is a huge part of what we do. It’s good for both the client and the volunteer.”
Daurer enjoys a wide array of hobbies during her free time, which include volleyball, basketball, pickleball, reading historical fiction, greeting card-making, T-shirt quilt-making, and switten-making, which involves turning old sweaters into mittens. She also enjoys attending the various events that are offered in her community. Daurer, alongside her fellow Meals on Wheels workers, often participates in the parades that take place in her beloved hometown of Michigan City.
“Aside from the couple of years I lived in Illinois, I’ve lived in Michigan City my whole life. I raised my three kids here. They're all products of Michigan City Area Schools, and they’re all well-educated and successful. I love Lake Michigan, and I'm very proud of the Michigan City community. I couldn't picture myself living anywhere else."
Daurer humorously claimed that she and her friends will likely end up spending the entire summer at the lakefront, as a musical series being hosted there is showcasing must-see performances almost every weekend.