New Meals on Wheels site leader in Burnet answers call to service
BRAD STUTZMAN • SPECIAL TO DAILYTRIB.COM
BURNET — Meet Paul Hicks. He moved a lot when he was very young. And now he works for an organization whose employees and volunteers also take to the road.
Hicks, 59, is the new program manager for WBC Opportunities’ Meals on Wheels programs in Burnet County. He succeeds longtime site leader Sara Reily, who left this past summer to work in service to youth.
Hicks’ professional background is in accounting, but the Horseshoe Bay resident said he has a heart for public service and a love for volunteering.
“I think this is something I would really like to pursue because I have such as passion for it,” said Hicks during his first week on the job at the Senior Activity Center, 102 E. Johnson St. in Burnet.
Hicks grew up in an IBM household and today jokes that the initials stood for “I’ve Been Moved.” He was born in Fort Worth, but his father’s job with the computer giant led the family to Kansas City, Missouri; Dallas; Los Angeles; and Houston – all by the time Hicks was in the fourth grade.
The bulk of his growing-up years were spent in Houston, and after high school, Hicks enrolled at Texas A&M University, where he earned a degree in accounting. Until his recent retirement and relocation to Horseshoe Bay, he worked in Houston for Exxon Mobil.
With Keri, his wife of 32 years, teaching math at Llano High School, Hicks landed a job selling advertising. Then he came across a job opening at WBCO.
The work – overseeing Meals on Wheels programs in Burnet County – appealed to his sense of community involvement. Hicks had previously volunteered for the United Way in Houston.
Since moving to Horseshoe Bay, he’s been part of a crew from First United Methodist Church in Marble Falls that delivers hot lunches to senior citizens on Saturdays. Hicks said his church splits Saturday duties with St. Frederick Baptist Church, thus augmenting the Monday-through-Friday services WBCO provides.
“I had the Highview route,” Hicks said, referring to Highview Retirement Village in Marble Falls, on RR 1431 East, which serves as a congregate lunch site.
The Johnson Street location in Burnet, where Hicks is headquartered, serves Burnet and Bertram. Meals are also delivered to Highview Retirement Village. From there, drivers distribute them to clients across Marble Falls, Granite Shoals, Highland Oaks and Shady Acres.
Plans are also in the works to provide services to homebound seniors in the Spicewood community, just after the first of the new year.
Hicks said his goal is to continue the service Meals on Wheel provides and look for ways to improve it, such as returning to the preparation and delivery of freshly cooked lunches and providing local hubs for activities, social engagement and education for seniors in each area.
Brenda Staples, the senior nutrition director for Meals on Wheels/WBC Opportunities, said she’s glad to have Hicks onboard.
“We are thrilled to have such talent and experience at the helm of our Burnet County operations,” Staples said. “Paul will help us expand our services in both Burnet and Marble Falls and, ultimately, help us reach many more needy seniors. He’s an above-and-beyond kind of guy.”
Hicks said he will always be looking for ways to serve more senior citizens.
“It’s a necessary service. So many people are in need,” he said. “You take it for granted. You think everybody has food, but they don’t.”