Las Vegas Mayor Goodman takes turn as Meals on Wheels volunteer — VIDEO

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman’s delivery was smooth: She smiled for the cameras as she knocked on the door of Dennis Schoen and Cynthia Boyles’ trailer on Tuesday and presented them with a week’s worth of Meals on Wheels.

The occasion for the celebrity appearance was to kick off celebrations for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada’s upcoming 78th birthday on April 16.

It was almost lunch time when the mayor and a media entourage came aknocking, and Schoen and Boyles were more than ready for their weekly delivery.

“Oh, boy, such art work,” the mayor said as she entered the trailer, admiring a marble-and-acrylic painting of a fairy that Schoen did that is part of the unit’s whimsical decor.

Goodman smiled and made small talk as she unpacked apples and bananas and seven portioned meals, with Catholic Charties Executive Chef Jun Lao.

The organization provides seven meals a week to 2,125 low-income, disabled or home-bound seniors and their pets through Meals on Wheels. It would like to serve the more than 400 others on a wait list, but the program’s annual $5.4 million budget is already running $2.2 million in the red.

All told, Catholic Charities provides more than 2 million meals a year through the Meals on Wheels and the organization’s food pantry and community meals for the homeless. It also provides shelter for 500 men a night, helps the homeless with vocational training, counseling and housing and offers basic needs, language classes, legal assistance and representation to refugees and immigrants.

The Meals on Wheels program, which started in 1975, is the largest of its kind in Nevada, said Leslie Carmine, the nonprofit’s spokeswoman.

Inside the trailer on Tuesday, Lao unwrapped all the fresh foods and helped Boyles fill the fridge with milk, fruits and the meals.

The meals included a pork pot roast with sweet potatoes, eggplant and shepherd’s pie and mixed vegetables.

“OK, everybody put the cameras down, we’re all going to have a meal,” Goodman joked. “I love it. Gourmet, gourmet.”

Lao said his 16 staff members work every day from 5:30 to 1 p.m. creating the meals for the seniors.

“Normally, our food is low-sodium. … It meets all the balanced groups,” Lao said, adding that the nonprofit also provides chopped or pureed food based on client needs.

For Schoen and Boyles, Meals on Wheels is their main meal for the day.

Their needs are different: Schoen, 70, has autonomic system dysfunction, a disorder of the nervous system, and neuropathy, making leaving his home or standing to prepare meals difficult.

Boyles, 71, an Army veteran, has asthma, neuropathy, a twisted spine and a head injury that makes her dizzy and affects her balance.

“Besides saving the money, it’s great knowing you don’t have to forage out in the store,” Boyles said of the meals the two have gotten for the past year.

The roommates survive on a total income of around $1,500 a month.

“We were doing fine, and then prices just went up,” Schoen said. “It’s good to see an organization like this giving back.”

Tony Pangelina, the Meals on Wheels supervisor, said that the program benefits not just the seniors, but the volunteers who deliver the food.

“You form a bond, a friendship, and the stop makes a driver’s day,” he said.

Goodman, too, said she found the experience rewarding.

“It’s very heartwarming, when you have lovely people like Dennis and Cynthia sitting inside. … It’s just beautiful,” she said. “It’s all about taking care of humanity, always has been.”

Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @brianarerick on Twitter.