Charles “Chuck” Abel, of Butler, finished up the deliveries on his regular route for Butler Meals on Wheels, but he had been asked to work another volunteer’s route of five or six meals in the city.

Abel happily agreed to pick up the route, as he has greatly enjoyed volunteering with the group since his retirement three years ago from Peoples Gas.

“It gets me out of the house for an hour or so,” Abel said of his volunteer work with Butler Meals on Wheels.

He parked at Tower Apartments on North Main Street on the afternoon of Sept. 11 in an effort to figure out to which building and apartment a meal was to go.

The meal was the last delivery in the extra route.

Abel found the building where the client lives and hopped out of the car to carry the meal to the address.

While walking on a sidewalk between two buildings at the apartment complex, Abel tripped and fell.

“It threw me into a storm door,” Abel said. “It was all glass.”

His right arm went through the glass and his head hit a wooden part of the door.

When the dust settled, Abel discovered he was bleeding from three separate wounds on his arm and a cut on his head.

Luckily, a band of Earthly angels immediately appeared all around him.

Abel said a trio of residents named Tom, Brandon and Autumn, plus two employees of the apartment complex, Luke and Ryan, snapped into action without a moment’s hesitation.

“Tom saw me fall and asked if I needed help, and I said ‘Yeah,’” Abel said.

The group retrieved towels and held them on his wounds while calling 911 to have an ambulance dispatched to the bloody scene.

While they called for help, Abel used his cellphone to call Tracy Stevenson, the assistant director and volunteer support coordinator at Butler Meals on Wheels.

“I said I had an accident and went through a storm door,” Abel said. “She came up right away.”

The right-handed Abel remembered the first thing he said to Stevenson when she arrived minutes later.

“I said ‘I haven’t delivered the meal yet,’” Abel said. “I guess she delivered it to the lady.”

Medical professionals from Butler Ambulance Service showed up in minutes and began tending to his wounds in preparation to transport him to the emergency department at Butler Memorial Hospital.

“I’d like to thank the Butler Bureau of Fire and Butler Ambulance for their prompt services,” Abel said.

At the emergency room, Abel received 18 stitches in three spots on his right arm.

“I was very lucky because the doctor said I was a centimeter away from cutting the artery in my wrist,” Abel said.

The wound on his head did not require stitches, but he did develop a black eye from the impact of hitting his head.

“I'm not as sore as I was,” Abel said on Sept. 17. “I see my doctor this Friday to get my stitches out.”

Stevenson, who has served in her position at Butler Meals on Wheels since February, will not soon forget taking the call from Abel that day.

“I was in shock, because the first thing on his mind was not himself,” she said. “He was very worried about delivering the meal to the person. That’s just what Chuck is like. He’s a gem.”

Stevenson sprinted from the Meals on Wheels kitchens at St. Peter’s Anglican Church on East Jefferson Street and jumped into her car to hurry to Abel’s side.

“I went because he is a volunteer and by instinct I though ‘I need to go check on him and make sure he’s OK,’” Stevenson said.

She was not prepared for what she saw when she arrived at the scene.

“When I got there, he was very badly cut,” Stevenson recalled. “It was very visible that he had a cut and bump on his head and there was blood all over the sidewalk.”

She was surprised at Abel’s seemingly unaffected mental state, given his condition.

“He’s very fortunate,” Stevenson said. “I kept thinking ‘Thank God he is coherent and able to talk to me.’ It was scary.”

The ambulance arrived at the same time as Stevenson, and emergency medical technicians were wrapping his wounds and taking his vital signs, she said.

“I just tried to talk to him to keep him calm,” Stevenson said. “I reassured him I would take care of the meal and that I would call his wife to notify her.”

Abel and his wife attended the 55th annual Butler Meals on Wheels celebration at the Atrium on Sept. 17, which thrilled Stevenson.

“We are so grateful that he is OK,” she said. “It was the phone call you do not want to get.”

Abel said the frightening fall has not shaken his dedication to Butler Meals on Wheels.

“It won’t stop me,” he said. “I’m going to continue delivering when I’m completely healed.”

Abel reiterated his thanks to the strangers who jumped right in to help him in his time of need.

“Those people are really helpful, kind, considerate and compassionate,” he said. “I’m just glad they were there.”