By Melissa Wuske

Chef-Prepared Meals for Seniors—at Home

“The number of seniors out there who aren’t eating properly is shocking to me,” said Barrett Allman. His son, Nathan, thought of a solution to nourish seniors who are living on their own, and the whole family helped put it into practice. Chefs for Seniors, based in Madison, Wisconsin, sends professional chefs into seniors’ homes to prepare meals—they’ll even do the planning and grocery shopping. 

Jim Schulz, age 85, lived off frozen dinners after his wife passed away. “I was anemic, I’d lost a lot of weight, and it was [because] my diet was lousy,” he said. But now chef Sina Sundby comes to his home each week to prepare meals for the week, customized to Schulz’s tastes and dietary needs.

It’s good for the diet, but it’s also an interpersonal outlet for potentially isolated seniors. “We chatter a lot when it’s just the two of us,” said Schulz.

Chefs for Seniors also aims to keep its service affordable: beyond groceries, most clients pay $45 to $75 a week. “I can’t solve all the problems in that senior’s life, but as a chef, the least I can do is make them food,” Allman said.

Innovations in Air Travel

Every airplane passenger has looked out a plane window at some point and asked, “What’s that?” The answer may soon be at our fingertips.

In March, Airbus filed a patent for smart windows—interactive touchscreens that would allow passengers to find out information about landmarks and access media. And if that’s not enough to keep flyers entertained, Airbus has also filed a patent for in-flight virtual reality helmets. The virtual reality experience could provide multisensory entertainment and could also block out stressful stimuli for anxious travelers.

MLB Player Grows in Christ During Suspension

During the 2013 season, Baltimore Orioles’ first baseman Chris Davis was at the top of his game: his record was so good that he was third in the American League MVP poll. But then the 2014 season began. His record started to slip, then plummet. The slump, along with several Christian friends leaving the team, caused Davis’s normally strong Christian faith to languish too.

“When you separate yourself from God and don’t have him at the center of your life, you’re going to be more susceptible to temptation,” Davis said. That temptation resulted in drug use, which got him suspended from the game. Diagnosed with ADHD years earlier, he had started taking Adderall again to help him focus during the slump—but he didn’t pursue the necessary waiver for the league to authorize it. The result was a 25-game suspension, which finished after opening day 2015.

“It was pretty dark,” Davis explained in a recent interview. “Not surprisingly, God was able to use it for his glory.” 

While Davis was frustrated, angry, and disappointed, he didn’t fight the suspension. “Once you make a mistake you own up to it,” he said. 

Davis reached out to Josh Hamilton, a Christian teammate from his time on the Texas Rangers. Hamilton reminded him of the power of forgiveness. “When we stumble we’re so hard on ourselves that we forget what it means to be forgiven—to have the slate wiped clean,” Davis said. “A lot of times we ask forgiveness and we’re forgiven before we forgive ourselves.”

Melissa Wuske is a freelance editor and writer. She and her husband, Shawn, live and minister in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Find her work online (melissaannewuske.com).