Elsie Adamo
NATIONAL Meals on Wheels Day was celebrated on Wednesday, recognising the contributions of the program and its volunteers.
Meals on Wheels are available in Mount Gambier, Naracoorte, Millicent, Port MacDonnell, Beachport and Southend, with many volunteers needed to get meals out into the community.
There are 167 volunteers that help Mount Gambier Meals on Wheels deliver their hundreds of meals every week. The Border Watch talked with volunteers on the day about their experiences volunteering locally for the organisation.
Behind the scenes, administration volunteer Karen Hines helps keep track of the orders and office admin.
“It can be very full on,” Ms Hines said.
“It is very interesting when you work in the office and you deliver.
“When you deliver, you see the people, but you do not understand what goes into it to get it to that stage.”
While there is always some constructive feedback, Ms Hines said most clients that use the service are very grateful.
“We had a gentleman ring up yesterday and say he told me his wife had gone into care and since she has been there, he has not been cooking for himself, so eventually he decided to get Meals on Wheels,” Ms Hines said.
“He said the meals are beautiful and he is really enjoying it.
“People use the service for lots of different reasons.”
Sue Shaw recently took over as volunteer kitchen coordinator just a few weeks ago.
“The kitchen coordinator is about checking the menu coming up the following week and making sure there are enough supplies,” Ms Shaw said.
“Looking at the recipes, working out how much ingredients we need, and making sure the pantry frozen vegetables and everything is in stock ready so people do not run out.
“It is all a bit new for me, that side of things.”
Ms Shaw said the local group are in need of more kitchen volunteers.
“It is pretty tight in the kitchen,” she said.
“We are managing, but when people get sick, it is tricky. Like today we would normally have seven people on, which is a good number where people are busy, not flat out but two of our people had the flu.”
“It would be nice to have a bigger pool to choose from to cover us on those busy times. “
Lee Dart is a Meals on Wheels all-rounder, currently serving as Treasurer while also volunteering in the kitchen and as a delivery driver.
Mr Dart has been volunteering at the local Meals on Wheels since 2018 when he relocated to Mount Gambier. He had previous experience with the organisation, which led him to quickly be accepted into the fold.
“It was quite funny really, I had just moved here…I went to a dinner and they all voted me in as Treasurer, and I had only been there about a week,” Mr Dart said.
However, helping in the kitchen was new for Mr Dart, and he said it has even helped improve his skills.
“I have learnt a couple tricks in the kitchen,” he said.
“It is a new skill for me, it has been fun. There is a lot of comradery in the kitchen.”
Mr Dart said that while deliveries are mostly lots of fun, there is an important welfare check aspect to the job.
“An important thing we do is check on how the clients are doing,” he said.
“One woman had fallen out of bed during the night, and when we came to the door, we knew something was not right.
“We rang a relative who came around and opened the house up and we found her.”
Jo Burford, branch support officer for the region, said she is grateful for all the volunteers that contribute their time, but there has been a drop in numbers since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
“Covid really affected the levels of volunteers,” Ms Burford said.
“And not with our delivery drivers, we are okay with numbers for those, it is the kitchen we really struggle with.”
Ms Burford said volunteers can help out as much or as little as they want. Some come in for one shift a month, others almost every day.
“Any contribution is appreciated,” she said.
“We are happy to try and accommodate anyone able and willing to help out.”
Meals on Wheels Mount Gambier will celebrate 60 years of operations in October, and plans are already underway to celebrate.
“We will be having an event, and we would love everyone that has been involved to attend,” she said.
“Past or present, we want people to come and celebrate the achievement.”
