“YOU feel like you are giving back to the community and helping someone else and that is very rewarding,” long-term Meals on Wheels volunteer Norma Reddie said as she looked back on her 35 years of service.
First stepping through the doors in 1982, the now 81-year-old has made a substantial impact on the Mount Gambier-based branch, which celebrated its 55th year in business earlier this month.
Initially working as the welfare officer, Ms Reddie had one of the most important jobs, checking up on clients throughout the week and ensuring they were comfortable and happy.
“I thought about it for a little while and in the end decided I would give it a go for 12 months – this has been the longest 12 months of my life,” she said with a laugh.
“It has been worthwhile though, getting to help people stay in their own homes is very rewarding, it is far more comfortable for them than being somewhere they often don’t really want to be.”
Reminiscing on working in the old kitchen and how things have changed, Ms Reddie said it was a lot easier for volunteers now.
“We used to have these big round containers that held five meals, so if you had 25 people to go to then you would need five of them in your boot,” she said.
“We also had to take the soup in a billy and ladle it out to each person, which took a lot of time – these days they are given their own cup.”
Seeing the branch transform from a regular kitchen to an impressive commercial facility, Ms Reddie said a lot of improvements had been made.
“The biggest and best change we had was when the new kitchen was built in October of 1995,” she said.
“It was quite small originally, nowhere near as big as what it is now, and we even have our own laundry with a washing machine and dryer.
“When I first started the tea towels only got washed once a week and we had a clothes horse to dry them out – often in winter they would still be wet the next day.
“A few times I took them to a laundry myself, it was much easier and quicker.”
Back then Meals on Wheels would provide around 60 meals a day to clients in the Blue Lake city, with a strict limit due to the size of the kitchen.
Ms Reddie said today they average between 120 and 150 hot meals a day, plus frozen meals with a number of meal choices for clients.
“We have a cool room and freezer room now, when I first started it was normal fridges and freezers, but with the support of the community it has continued to grow as businesses donated bigger appliances like the dryer and washing machine,” she said.
“We also have a lot more volunteers and six rounds that we cover.”
Taking a step back with volunteering, Ms Reddie does little manual labor anymore, however still plays an important role in the office.
“I’ve been working as assistant secretary for a little while now with meetings and that sort of thing,” she said.
“I would really like to keep volunteering for a long time, but it depends on how my health goes – the spirit is willing, but I don’t know whether everything else is.”
Forming great friendships over the years, Ms Reddie said she strongly encourages anyone to lend a helping hand and volunteer with Meals on Wheels.
“I would certainly recommend it to anyone, it is very rewarding and I’ve met some great people.”
