For some DeKalb County residents who don’t have family to spend holidays with, John and Julie Ahlbach are there for them with love, compassion and a meal.

The Ahlbachs, both 73 and married for 51 years, volunteer with the Meals on Wheels program run out of the Volunteer Action Committee. Organizers said they have become dependable volunteers who can be counted on to deliver food on holidays.

They take time to volunteer on holidays before celebrating those occasions with their own family.

“Those are very meaningful to us because if you’re getting a meal on Mother’s Day, that probably means that you don’t have family to get together with on Mother’s Day,” Julie Ahlbach said.

She said that after a while, the people they deliver meals to “kind of become like family.”

The couple started their volunteering in earnest once they retired, but for John, the Meals on Wheels program has been something he’s lent a hand to for more than a decade.

“It was something I was familiar with,” John Ahlbach said. “I don’t mind driving, even in the bad weather. ... It has worked out really well over time. We’ve got to meet some really neat people throughout the course of it.”

Julie Craig, the Meals on Wheels manager for the VAC, said the DeKalb County program relies on volunteers like the Ahlbachs to serve about 300 meals a day.

“To get them out to everyone, you have to have very dedicated people coming and helping,” Craig said. “They’re awesome. They show up and get them out. And they care a lot about the people as well. ... Our volunteers are the program. Without them, we couldn’t do it.”

Julie Ahlbach said the recipients of meals through the charity program sometimes don’t have anyone else checking in on them. Because volunteers have to make direct contact with the person, the meal deliveries double as a check on their well-being.

That also opens up the opportunity for relationship-building. Julie Ahlbach said her husband has a knack for creating a personal moment with those who are distrustful or apprehensive of receiving support.

“There’s one gentleman who’s very wary of anybody, but he especially likes John. So John has gone out of his way – we shop for this gentleman, John brings him to the bank," Julie Ahlbach said.

She’s proud of her husband for the way he’s made a positive, potentially life-altering impact on another person in their community.

“He’s made a big difference in this man’s life,” Julie Ahlbach said. “It’s amazing because he [the man they help] is very distrustful of anybody, and won’t take advantage of any of the supports that the government would do for him, yet he trusts John.”