Every Monday morning in Denver, a car pulls up to a Meals on Wheels drop site and three men get out. Two of them are in their sixties and seventies. The one leading the way is 100.
Mel Faes was born in 1925 and raised in north Denver. At 19 he joined the Army Air Force and served during World War II. When he came home, he worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 34 years. And then, somewhere around 1985, he started volunteering with Meals on Wheels. He never stopped.
For more than 40 years, Mondays have belonged to the route. Mel stopped driving about five years ago, so now his sons John and Jim take the wheel. But Mel still insists on carrying the meals to the door. "Sometimes you're the only person they see all day," he says. He understands that what he brings isn't just food. It's a face. A voice. A reminder that somebody thought about you this morning.
When people ask Mel his secret to a long life, he gives the same answer every time: "Keep moving." Not in the restless sense. In the purposeful sense. Keep showing up. Keep being useful. Keep walking to the next door.
Volunteers of America Colorado, which produces and delivers nearly 3,000 meals a day across seven counties, nominated Mel as a Denver7 Everyday Hero. "We nominated Mel because of his giving, humble, amazing spirit," said Cathy Law of Volunteers of America. "Not just for his military service, but for the way he continues to give back to the community over and over again." For Mel, the recognition is kind but beside the point. "It's not really work," he says. "It's something you love to do."