LEWISTON – When Norm Boulay learned how slowly SeniorsPlus was collecting donations – money meant to replace a wrecked Meals on Wheels truck – he wondered if it might ever happen.

“I figured, ‘At this rate, it’s going to take a year,'” said Boulay. “I said, ‘Let’s get it done.'”

So, he wrote a big check.

Boulay, the owner of three Lewiston Dunkin’ Donuts, donated $40,800, enough to close the gap between the donations already gathered, almost $8,000, and the amount needed, $48,000.

“This community has been good to us,” Boulay said Tuesday at the truck’s unveiling. “We’re not hurting for funds. So, we helped.”

The program has needed the help for a while.

Since last fall, when the previous truck was demolished in a Farmington-area crash, Meals on Wheels has operated with a rented truck.

Food was kept at the proper temperature with awkward hot and cold packs. Space was tight. And it was expensive.

Rather than using the program’s adopted system of preparing all its meals in its central kitchen in Wilton, then trucking them to dining centers and homes, the lack of proper temperature controls meant that many ready-made meals had to be purchased, said Pam Allen, executive director of SeniorsPlus, which operates the Meals on Wheels program.

The cost was a burden.

Several donors stepped up quickly. Among them was Bedard Health Care Group, which created a benefit voucher system.

Owner Michael Nadeau distributed vouchers to local doctors’ offices. For each voucher returned to one of his two Lewiston stores, he donated $1 for the Meals on Wheels truck. When the drive ended in June, the total had hit $2,500.

“The community stepped up to help,” Nadeau said.

His business logo appears on the new truck, right beneath the Dunkin’ Donuts logo. The truck, with separate compartments for hot and cold food, has been on the road for about a week.

The specially outfitted Chevrolet Silverado is a pleasure to drive, Brian Bourgault said.

One plus: the temperature controls expand to the passenger compartment. Unlike the old truck, this one has air conditioning.

It’s also bigger than the old truck, able to carry about 300 meals in a single load.

White and shiny, with wide side doors to the food compartments, the truck makes Boulay proud, he said.

He’d first learned of the need in a Sun Journal story and donated the money after meeting with SeniorsPlus leaders, who showed them a picture of a similar truck in a magazine.

The decision to help was simple, said Boulay, who routinely aids Girls and Boys clubs and the Special Olympics. He also gave a large gift to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

“Donating money doesn’t take a long time, just long enough to write the check,” he said.

Boulay owns the two Dunkin’ Donuts on Lewiston’s Main Street and operates another inside St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center.

He has owned the shop across from Central Maine Medical Center for 31 years.

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