Today on Christmas, 16 members of the Klinge family and volunteers of the Westport Woman's Club will deliver hot, cooked meals to the elderly and homebound.

The club's holiday meals program, which delivers food to those who are alone and can't cook for themselves, provides meals to about 25 people on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Since today is also Christmas Day, the Klinges will also provide each of the residents with a small gift. The Klinges host a Christmas Eve party every year and ask all their guests to bring gifts for those in the holiday meals program. The participants are referred to the program by the town's Department of Human Services.

In Good Taste, Wild Pear and the Sherwood Diner prepare the meals.

Jeanne and Jack Klinge have been volunteering as meal deliverers for about 30 years and now three generations of their family are involved. When they can't help on a certain holiday, Jeanne Klinge said the volunteers line up.

"More people volunteer than we need every holiday; it's amazing," Jeanne Klinge said. "It's as nice for us as it is for (the participants). They probably don't see anybody else on these holidays."

Through the years, Jeanne Klinge said some of the homebound have become friends with many of the volunteers. Some volunteers have invited the program participants to their own homes for the holidays or make plans to visit with them on a weekly basis.

In addition to the Klinges, other families are also helping in the effort, including Nancy and David Braun, Rene and Frank Purcell, Marion Potter and her grandchildren, the Swartleys and their grandchildren, Sheila Keenan and her son Sean and the Siegel family.

While the holiday meals program provides some help during the holidays, the Woman's Club maintains a food closet to help those in need of food year-round. 

The closet is stocked this time of year, but Karen Center and Wendy McKeon who manage the closet said the need is about double than it was this time last year and will remain high through the summer.

Anyone who wishes to donate to the food closet is asked to bring powdered milk, canned hams, canned meat, pizza kits, coffee, cooking oil and canned fruits. Donations can be brought to the Woman's Club, located at 44 Imperial Avenue in Westport. For more information, call 203-227-4240.