University of North Carolina Athletics
GoHeels Exclusive: Meals On Wheels With Heels
March 30, 2018 | Football, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
Myles Dorn's Wednesday morning started just like any other this semester, with an 8 a.m. class and then a tutoring session.
But before lifting weights in the afternoon, he and four other North Carolina football players met at Binkley Baptist Church, which houses the offices for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Meals on Wheels (CHCMOW) program.
In March, hundreds of local Meals on Wheels programs across the country have participated in the annual March for Meals campaign, designed to help raise awareness about senior hunger and to encourage action on the part of the local community. As part of that, several local personalities and politicians have joined CHCMOW volunteers in delivering meals to shut-in seniors.
Dorn, Allen Artis, Michael Carter, Nathan Elliott and Kyle Murphy donned their UNC jerseys and became the latest Chapel Hill-Carrboro "celebrities" to pitch in.Â
"You see a lot of people who have a platform and don't use it, and a lot of people who would love to have a platform but just don't," Dorn said. "So I think it's important for us to take advantage of what we have because not a lot of people have it."
The players, along with Ochuko Jenije, the football team's director of student-athlete development, arrived at Binkley Baptist just after 10:20 a.m. After a welcome from CHCMOW executive director Rachel Sobel Bearman and a group photo, they split into three groups of two and met the three different volunteers they'd ride along with.
Dorn and Murphy joined Lee Strange, who is also the public relations and marketing chair of the CHCMOW board of directors.Â
Over the next hour and a half, they delivered nutritious meals to about 10 different houses. Dorn sat in the front passenger seat and provided directions.
Upon arriving at each house, Strange knocked on the door or rang the doorbell, announcing that Meals on Wheels was there. Someone wasn't always home; those meals were left on the porch, either inside a provided cooler or wrapped in a plastic bag. But the people who answered their doors were pleasantly surprised to see Dorn and Murphy.
"I'm glad I didn't miss y'all," said one woman, who, like many meal recipients throughout the day, noted Dorn and Murphy's jersey numbers so she could remember to look for them when watching the Tar Heels this fall.
"Y'all made my day," exclaimed another woman.
And in many ways, the players found just as much enjoyment in their interactions with each person they met.
"It's really a humbling experience," Dorn said. "It makes you realize it's bigger than you, it's bigger than football. That's really the biggest thing I got from today."
