Dorothy Packer was one of 10 volunteers honored with the Volunteer of the Year Award at the 38th annual meeting of Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands, held in Hyannis on Tuesday. The morning meeting was attended by 140 and took place at the Cape Codder Resort and Spa in Hyannis. Mrs. Packer didn’t attend. But Jacque Cage, Martha’s Vineyard director of Elder Services, accepted the award on her behalf.

Mrs. Packer on Wednesday demurred, “There are so many others who are just as deserving of this award.”

The volunteers, she said, “They are all so dedicated.”

Mrs. Packer, 73, has been delivering Meals on Wheels for close to 15 years. She is one of 30 people who bring meals to seniors across the Island every weekday. “My day is Monday,” she said. Mrs. Packer said she and a core of others meet in the morning at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital at 10:45 to pick up the meals. It may vary from week to week but Mrs. Packer said she usually delivers meals to 10 to 12 people. “I do up to 16 in the summer,” she said.

“I love it. I just go. There is no preparation required. No cooking. You just deliver the meals,” Mrs. Packer said. “I do it every Monday for the whole year. I see those people ... You get to be fond of the people.”

Monday is on her calendar. “Nothing gets in the way of that day. Monday is my day,” she said.

She feels like a greeter. “The visits are very short,” she said. She is usually done by 12:30.

The idea of volunteering for Meals on Wheels came from personal experience. She recalls visiting her mother, Jessie Pratt, in Winchester years ago. Her father, Arthur, had just died and her mother had broken her shoulder. And while she was at their home, she saw a person delivering Meals on Wheels. The word on the bag being delivered said “Pratt.” Mrs. Packer said she was struck deeply by what she saw, the generosity of those who would do that kind of community service for her parents.

A short time later, Mrs. Packer was sick, and suffered from pneumonia. “I was so ill,” she said. Soon after her recovery, which took awhile, she offered to help deliver the meals.

Mrs. Packer is the wife of Ralph M. Packer. The couple do a number of good quiet deeds in the community.

Cindy Cullen, a volunteer resource center manager for Elder Services, said Mrs. Packer’s contribution is huge.