Meals on Wheels Cooking Opens New Kitchen

MOW in temporary kitchen since being devastated by 2005 fire
New kitchen is the largest Meals on Wheels kitchen in the nation
Now has capacity to serve up 14,000 meals a day

by Sandra Hernandez, CW33 News at Nine

May 6, 2008

DALLAS — The Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty center on Mockingbird Lane officially opened today, after a six-alarm fire three years ago.

The Visiting Nurse Association Building and Meals on Wheels kitchen were destroyed while the facility was being renovated. Around here, they like to say they've risen from the ashes.

The first meals were served up; a fitting tribute to the late Mr. and Mrs. Haggerty. "It's a true gift that was given to us by our parents that we have the pleasure of carrying on the legacy that they started," says their daughter. Theresa Haggerty Parravano.

Workers pump out 8,000 meals a day and now have the capacity to produce 14,000. The new kitchen is 3,500 square feet bigger. And, no more washing pots and pans by hand; there's an oversized dishwasher, new 60-gallon kettles, and new ovens. says, "They're about $56,000 each and what it is, you can cook about 400 pounds of meat in about four minutes," say VNA President Robert Carpenter.

In minutes, meals were packed up and ready for distribution by volunteers like Larry Johnson. "We're Meals on Wheels; we have this card for you. Happy Birthday. Ohh, thank you," Larry says to MOW client Dorothy Jones.

Dorothy reads and says, "66 years old and still kicking a little bit; this birthday looks great on you. Ohhh, y'all gonna make me cry; y'all gonna make me cry this is so precious. Thank you, thank you."

Larry says, "I guess it's just knowing that somebody cares; someone cares enough to come and feed you. It probably got to her."

Another client named Johnny agrees, saying "Sometimes it gets pretty rough, sometimes."

Meals on Wheels is more committed than ever to serving the community.

VNA gets most of its funding from the community. Texas Instruments and the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Foundation each gave matching gifts of half a million dollars to rebuild the facility.