Liz Barron walks up to the counter at Papa Frank’s Italian Restaurant in Winooski, where two warm paper bags are waiting. Owner Moe Paquette gives her a gentle smile and nods.

“Thank you so much,” Barron says, beaming. “Thank you for what you do as well,” he replies.

Barron carries the bags to her car where her co-pilot Elma — a very friendly English Bulldog — offers a soft grunt of approval at the scent of fresh lasagna.

For the next 40 minutes, Barron drives.

From Winooski to a far corner of Huntington, up a snow-covered dirt road to a small house tucked in the woods. The temperature: 9 degrees.

“Why hello! Come right in,” the woman at the front door says, ushering Barron toward the warmth of a wood stove. “Thank you very much,” she adds, smiling so widely she seems to run out of room. Barron hands over dinner for the woman and her husband, who is receiving home hospice care.

For the next 20 minutes, the two talk like old friends, because they are. Their children grew up together. But tonight’s visit isn’t simply social call, although it feels that way.

Barron is volunteering with Dinners with Love, a volunteer-run program at University of Vermont Health – Home Health & Hospice. The program delivers thousands of restaurant-prepared meals to caregivers and their loved ones with life-limiting illnesses. For families navigating caregiving and the emotional weight of limited time, a hot meal might seem small. But volunteers like Barron — a former Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurse — know how important those small acts of kindness can be. Paquette, back at the restaurant, understands this, too; he lost his wife to cancer two years ago.

“It can be a bright light in peoples’ day, to get a free meal from a local restaurant brought to them,” he says.

Tonight’s client learned a delivery was available when Judy Thomas, the volunteer coordinator for the program, called to offer one. The client remembers hesitated, thinking their home was too remote. But Thomas reassured her that the driver already knew where she lived — it was her friend, Liz Barron.

“I almost burst out crying on the phone,” the client says. “We are good friends and are just very appreciative of how Home Health & Hospice supports us.”

For Barron, delivering meals for Dinners with Love continues the calling that started with nursing.

“I love doing this because I know what it does and how much it means to people,” she says.

If you want to learn more about Dinners with Love and Home Health & Hospice volunteer opportunities, email voloff@uvmhomehealth.org.