Mark Wunschel was ready to roll.

He zipped up his suitcases packed in the back of his hatchback, each storing frozen meals covered with plastic wrap. The trays were sectioned into compartments like a Hungry-Man TV dinner, giving the three food groups their own space.

Tuesday’s menu for the Meals on Wheels program included sweet and sour meatballs, vegetables and fried rice. A nearby paper bag contained cookies, fruit cups and containers of milk, one each for each meal. Pull those out of the bag and serve.

“You microwave the dinners,” said Wunschel, a retired bus driver from Boscawen. “It’s just easier to give them meals that are easier to make.”

Wunschel, 65, is a veteran at this game, having gained experience in the Granite State and Florida. He works part-time for $10.69 an hour, delivering food in the Concord area to elderly and disabled individuals for Meals on Wheels. His schedule has been busier than usual lately because drivers have been aging out and having health problems, forcing them to drop from the system while the conveyor belt leading new blood into this altruistic endeavor has remained thinner than a Halloween skeleton.

“I was working three days per week and then it was five to cover the other routes,” Wunschel said. “Other routes had the same thing happening with other drivers. They were covering extra routes because we have had issues with medical issues. It was a longer day for me.”

Wunschel’s boss is Suzanne Demers, the director of elder services for the Community Action Program in Belknap and Merrimack Counties. She sounded the alarm this week, seeking help for a lingering shortage that is growing dire in areas.

She said Meals on Wheels staffing has been fine in Alton, Pittsfield, Franklin and Bradford. Laconia has been okay. Concord and Suncook, however, have been a different story, for no apparent reason.

“We are desperate,” Demers said. “This is all new since COVID. Since then, it’s been a struggle. We had a lot of people who wanted to help, but it’s an issue now. The average age is around 74, and in terms of getting ahead in that pipeline, people just have not returned, and we don’t understand why.”

Demers has spent her life helping others. Her parents owned a restaurant in Lebanon and gave food to poor people, no charge. “My parents led by example,” she said.

For 30 years in the human services field, she’s worked with people who had developmental disabilities and counseled individuals who were addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Demers oversees eight senior centers in Merrimack and Belknap Counties and has been the director of elder services for the Community Action Program for five years.

She’s never struggled to find drivers before. Demers sweetens the deal to attract them, offering coffee, breakfast, and flexible work hours. However, an hourly rate of $10.69 isn’t great in this economy but most drivers aren’t doing it for boatloads of cash.

“It’s a great position for parents who stay at home with their kids and drop them off to earn a little extra income,” she said. “All you have to do is drive.”

She raved about Rich Penney, the manager of the resource center, a brick building in a maze of brick buildings on Commercial Street, with a white-lettered “Page Belting Company” sign towering high.

The kitchen for cooking meals is in the resource center and sits deep in the complex. It’s where Wunschel and others park and pack their cars with suitcases, boxes and bags.

Wunschel drives through downtown Concord and south along Manchester Street distributing meals. He also delivers to trailer parks in Penacook.

He identifies with those clients who have financial problems. He grew up poor in New Bedford, Mass., in what he called the projects, a close-knit community where families watched out for each other.

“My parents divorced when I was six,” Wunschel said. “My mother raised seven kids. We were on welfare.”

He enjoys interacting with the people he meets. Some are lonely. Many like to talk. “I love to do it,” he said.

So does Sarah LaBossiere of Tilton, also a veteran of the Meals program, here in Concord and elsewhere. She takes pride in the wellness checks she does when stopping at houses.

“We make sure the clients are okay,” LaBossiere said. “If something happens to them, we are the ones who are going to call the emergency contact or emergency 911.”

She’s also a good recruiter for Demers, something the boss sorely needs these days.

“The clients are wonderful,” LaBossiere said. “They are chatty. Anyone who comes to this organization will love it.”

To sign up to be a driver, call (603) 225 3295.