This past Tuesday we heard from Kaitlyn Fleming, the Fund Development co-ordinator for Meals on Wheels. She spoke to us about the top ten things that we should know about Meals on Wheels, and to keep things interesting she did it in reverse order.
10. Meals on Wheels was founded in 1969 by some members of the Victorian Order of Nurses. This year is their fiftieth anniversary.
9. They have their own commercial kitchen, which has been in operation since 1988. It is run by a Red Seal chef along with nine staff and teams of volunteers who come daily to help with meal prep. All of their meals are prepared fresh each day.
8. They prepare an average of seven hundred and eight meals each week day.
7. They also have a grocery shopping program, where customers provide a list and they do their shopping and deliver their groceries.
6. Meals on Wheels prides itself on being more than just a meal delivery service. Many of their customers are not mobile enough to shop for, or prepare their own meals, so they do not get out very often. The volunteer delivery people are often the only contact that some of their customers have with the outside world.
5. Meals on Wheels relies on volunteers in their kitchen, where teams of eight people help prepare meals, as meal delivery drivers (whom they reimburse for kilometers driven), as personal shoppers and for help with special fundraising events such as ‘Beers and Bands’. They had over fourteen thousand volunteers in 2018.
4. Most of their customers are seniors, but that is not a requirement.
3. Their number two source of customer referrals is from family members.
2. Their fee for service has not increased since the 1990’s. Their meals cost between $4.50 and $13.00 per day with two levels of subsidy available for low income clients.
1. They need our help! They have lots of opportunities for volunteers and will also gladly accept cash donations which go towards maintenance of their four aging delivery vans and help to reimburse their volunteer drivers.
