Meals on Wheels Western Michigan President and CEO Lisa Wideman said she feels she’s been preparing for this role her whole career. Her food service background, caring heart and tenderness for those left behind has made her a perfect fit for her position as she leads the distribution of food and good cheer to thousands of local seniors.
“I really always had a bit of an interest in nutrition in general, even as a youngster,” Wideman said. “Going through high school and such I had a home economics teacher that said, ‘Well, maybe you should look at the field of dietetics.’ And I was very interested in that.”
Wideman added she was not keen on the prospect of hospital work, so she shifted her attention to study nutrition with a business emphasis. In 1986, she graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in food and nutrition and headed into the workforce.
“While I went to Michigan State, I worked my way through the cafeteria in food service,” Wideman said. “So, I learned a lot about large-volume food service while I was there. And my first thought was I’m going to go into restaurant management. And I did that for about 10 years, and I decided that just really was unfulfilling and wasn’t very family friendly.
“Most of my time was with PepsiCo, the Pizza Hut franchise. You learn about sales, you learn about people, you learn about how to manage people. (But) it’s all done for the profit of others.”
LISA WIDEMAN Organization: Meals on Wheels Western Michigan Position: President and CEO Age: 58 Birthplace: Marquette Residence: Holland Biggest Career Break: “Getting into aging, I would have to say, really getting into the aging network. When I first went to work for Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan, that was what got me into what I do.” |
Wideman felt in need of a change and decided to pursue the nutrition aspect of her degree instead, which landed her a job as a nutrition counselor at Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
From there, Wideman launched her career in the nonprofit sector, next at Head Start and then, unexpectedly, started a new job at Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan (AAAWM).
“It was something that I wasn’t looking for,” Wideman said. “I really loved the job that I had, and my husband was like, you should apply for this. And so I did. Jackie O’Connor (former executive director) hired me.”
It was her new position as contract administrator for AAAWM that really sparked Wideman’s interest in senior care and showed her the need for her unique background and perspective in the nonprofit space. Wideman went on to spend 12 years at the organization.
“They had nine counties of Meals on Wheels-type programs, senior nutrition programs. And I was responsible for making sure that they were in compliance with all (state) guidelines (and) approving their menus,” she said. “But what I found that I really loved the most about that was it became very apparent that I could help them by offering my food service knowledge on how to do some of those logistical things with their kitchens.
“They didn’t have the professional staff to do it. I really loved helping people learn how to manage food-service operations while I was there in addition to making sure they were doing everything they were supposed to be doing. And I really liked it. I loved those relationships.”
From there, Wideman joined Meals on Wheels Western Michigan, which was named Senior Meals Program Inc. at the time.
“In 2009 I came here. And I really took a lot of thought to decide to come on board, but what I really saw (was) in my other role, I was planting a lot of seeds and hoping they would grow. And I saw this as an opportunity to make a bigger and more direct impact on senior nutrition.”
Wideman spent 11 years as chief operations officer at Meals on Wheels Western Michigan and was promoted to president and CEO in June 2020. She said the transition between roles, which occurred while the organization was dealing with COVID-19 challenges, was a tough one, but she hasn’t regretted it for a moment.
“I had a lot of vision, a lot of passion. I felt that the time was perfect for me and my life to take on this role,” she said. “And I feel like I’d been training for it my whole life too, between my educational background, my passion for older adults, because older adults are special, they have a special place in my heart. And being able to use my education and experience to really forward this mission couldn’t be a better fit for me, it really couldn’t.”
Wideman is still full of passion for her work.
“I just fell in love with seniors,” she said. “I mean, they’re so grateful. They are the forgotten generation, they really are. I think they’re getting a little more attention than they used to be because everybody has aging parents nowadays. It’s really meaningful work. The gratitude that we get back every day from the seniors that we serve is really impactful.”
It’s her own experiences with her aging parents that helps inform and drive Wideman’s work. Watching her mother and father grow into older adulthood has given her firsthand experience of what it’s like to navigate aging alongside someone who is experiencing Alzheimer’s disease, or getting to a point in life where they need the presence of a caregiver.
And, in turn, her work has helped inform and shape her care of her own parents.
“In recent years my own mother, who lives out of state, has experienced challenges that, had I not been in this field (I) maybe wouldn’t have fully understood how to make a difference,” she said.
Wideman also credits her own “fantastic” grandparents and a compassionate upbringing for helping shape the care with which she serves.
“I think maybe I’m also kind of a cheerleader of the underdog,” she said.
And it seems that has proved to be true for her quite literally.
“Pets would be the other thing that has a place in my heart, so if I wasn’t doing this, I’d probably be doing some kind of an animal welfare program,” she said.
Wideman has been involved in animal rescues, including a mother dog and her pair of puppies that were abandoned at a park in Holland. She helped ensure were taken into a caring home.
She also recalled demonstrating her sense of compassion when, in a freak accident, one of the goldfish housed in her workplace fish tank swallowed a rock. Wideman left no fish behind, and enacted a rescue mission right in the office, when others likely would have walked away.
“I researched how long I can have it out of water before it’ll die,” she said. “So I had the exact amount of time. Then I went around the office trying to find something (to get it out) and one of the nurses had some forceps. So, I got it all set up, netted the finish, put it on this paper towel and I used the forceps and I took this rock out of this fish’s mouth. And then I put him back in the tank. People couldn’t really believe I went that far for a fish,” Wideman recalled, laughing.
It is this strong sense of compassion that makes Wideman a perfect fit for her job. She sees unnoticed needs and takes the time and the care to set things right.
At Meals on Wheels, Wideman helms an organization which, according to a 2021 report, managed over 1,300 volunteers doing almost 17,000 hours of work. Approximately 3,000 of last year’s clientele were living at or below the poverty line, while nearly 800 were veterans.
“We don’t say no to seniors,” she said. Wideman works to ensure that every senior citizen has access to a healthy meal.
“It’s hard to believe we don’t have that everywhere in this country, you know? Helping seniors to manage their chronic diseases through a healthy meal is really important to me, too.”
Since joining Meals on Wheels Western Michigan, Wideman has started several initiatives within the organization, including strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion strategies to help ensure she’s reaching the widest possible range of seniors in need, wherever they are. Wideman also is proud of her progress in broadening the range of meal options that Meals on Wheels offers.
“We believe in the dignity of choice,” she said. “We want to make sure that we have offerings that are appropriate for everybody. One of the things that I got off the ground is introducing a meal choice program where people can actually choose the foods that they eat, which is so important. When you start losing your independence, maintaining choices in your life is all that it’s about. And we can’t nourish people well if they don’t eat the meals.”
Wideman said she has monumental respect for the work her volunteers do, delivering meals in visits that are sometimes the only face-to-face interaction that a senior will get all week.
“You know, it takes a special person to do some of that work,” she said. “Anytime a volunteer comes in, they can’t believe the extreme dedication of our staff to the mission. And I take it for granted sometimes that that is really that visible to people coming in from the outside. This is what we do, and I’m a part of it. And I’m really proud to be a part of a culture that is as dedicated as this organization. We’re much more than a meal, we’re a safety check, we’re linking people with other services and programs (and) we’re the social piece for a lot of seniors.
“Being able to see that direct impact, listening to (volunteer) stories, a lot of our volunteers will say, you know, I’m not there to save them. They’re saving me because of the relationships that they’re building. It’s just a special, special population.”
Seniors, she said, have been widely overlooked by human service organizations, and she hopes her work is helping bring awareness to change that.
“When I came into this network, it was all about kids,” she said. “Everybody was giving their money to kids. Everybody was trying to make sure that the kids didn’t turn into ‘problems’ as older adults. But there’s still the older adult that needs us.
“We’re committed. I think our whole team is committed. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the next year or two brings for the organization in terms of our impact.”