CLEVELAND — Sue Weglarz was a MetroHealth Medical Center nurse for 36 years. She worked mostly in pediatric care.

“Now nurses are getting a lot of recognition that we didn’t get forever,” she said.

Though she retired in 2013, she didn’t stay away for long.

She came back to MetroHealth as a volunteer in 2019 — this time working in the Ronald McDonald House room at the hospital.

“You’re almost like a silent front-end worker,” said Weglarz.

Once the pandemic hit and lockdowns started in March, volunteer programs were also shut down.

So Weglarz looked for other ways to give back.

“There’s got to be something I can do just sitting in my house. Just medicine, I wasn’t ready to go back into medicine, but you know, food disparity is pretty rampant and, you know, it doesn’t know zip codes,” Weglarz said. “So, I’m all over Northeast Ohio delivering food to people and I think that’s a pretty good thing to do. Makes me feel better and I know it makes them feel better.”

Now, Weglarz volunteers alongside about a dozen others in MetroHealth mobile food pantry efforts like “Food as Medicine” and with the hospital system's food delivery program through the “Institute for H.O.P.E.” Hope stands for health, opportunity, partnership and empowerment.

Weglarz provides contactless delivery by picking up boxes of food at distribution sites and then driving and dropping it off on doorsteps.

“People are hanging on by a thread and even running to a discount food store just sometimes isn’t in the picture,” said Weglarz.

MetroHealth teamed up with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank to giveaway more than 3,000 turkeys this Thanksgiving.

“I know some people that’s all they’re going to get," said Weglarz. "It’s hard for people. East side, west side, south side, north side — it’s hard for everybody.”

It’s been an eye-opening, rewarding, and humbling experience that makes Weglarz feel grateful.

Since mid-March, MetroHealth reported 324 households have utilized its food services and 241 of those are new families who prior to COVID-19, did not ask for help.

“I’m pulling into homes that I can’t imagine,” Weglarz said. “I think how could you not be able to buy a box of pasta? But sometimes it’s a decision of am I going to keep my electricity on, am I going to have heat or am I going to have something for dinner tonight?"

This retired nurse loves giving back and hopes others consider volunteering, too in a time when everyone could use a helping hand.

“I mean I’m not taking care of a patient, but you know, you’re taking care of somebody else so they don’t become a patient," said Weglarz.