On Christmas morning, just as families were waking up to open presents wrapped under the tree, Laurie Almy pulled into the parking lot at the Mobile Meals Community.
She was one of more than 150 volunteers who chose to spend their holiday delivering meals to seniors in Knox County who are spending Christmas alone.
"It's just the feeling I get helping others. I know that's the standard reply, but that's exactly how I feel," Almy says as she drove through a North Knoxville neighborhood to make the first of four deliveries she had today.
During any other of her weekly visits, she would stop at up to nine houses, but some of her usual recipients had families to take them in for Christmas.
For Almy, making deliveries is more about paying it back than paying it forward.
"I became very ill back in 2009. I was in the hospital and in rehab on and off for several years. When I wasn't in a hospital, I was at home because I couldn't do anything. But, I've been surgery-free for over two years, and I decided I needed to reconnect with the outside world, This was the greatest way to do that," Almy said. "I know what it's like to be home bound and to be in a wheelchair, so that gives this an extra special meaning to me."
Volunteer coordinator Shelly Woodrick said volunteers like Almy delivered a record number of 540 Christmas meals.