If you’ve lived around these parts for any length of time, it’s quite possible, you may have heard about a wonderful meal delivery service called Meals on Wheels.
Meals on Wheels was originally started by the United Church Women (UCW) when Joan Rowat brought the idea to one of their meetings in 1970. From that time on – for about the last ten years, - The Meals on Wheels service was entirely driven by a group of dedicated volunteers who organized and made up the delivery schedules, picked up the supper meals from the hospital and delivered them to the approved clients on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
A faithful few of those same U.C.W. women are still delivering meals more than fifty years later.
The job is simple but very rewarding.
Drivers pick up a cooler of food prepared by the hospital kitchen staff at 4:00 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the back door of the hospital and drop off the marked containers of individual meals at private residences around town - including the Park Manor and Lions Manor.
The coolers of individually marked meals are light and easy to carry.
The meals are prepared by Nutrition Services within Russell Health Centre, offering a full, warm and nutritious meal, delivered to eligible clients for a small fee, right to their home. Right now, this important program is struggling as the stream of volunteers is getting pretty thin.
So, Prairie Mountain Health and Senior Services are asking for your help to keep Russell's much-needed Meals on Wheels going strong. Or going at all. Without more volunteer delivery drivers there’s a real possibility that changes may have to be made.
"It is a much-needed service to ensure clients who have difficulties preparing food, and can not travel to a congregate meal program, have access to nutritious food to keep them healthy in their homes," said Sherry Lawrence Russell Health Centre Nutritional Services Manager.
Russell Senior Services now coordinates the volunteers and a volunteer schedule to assist in transporting the supper meals.
"The meals are delivered to eligible people who are generally unable to prepare food for themselves due to age, illness or disability, either on a temporary or permanent basis," said Abbey Vorlicek, Acute Care Services Manager at Russell Health Centre.
"By providing these hot meals through the Meals on Wheels program, we are contributing to better health not only in the sense of a nutritious meal but by seeing friendly faces at the doors that drop off the meals. Sometimes, those volunteers can be the only social contacts a person might see in days, and better mental health and well-being can also be heightened through the program," Vorlicek added.
Application forms are available to fill out for those volunteering with the program. If volunteers have more specific questions, they can contact Pauline Olarte Senior Services Coordinator email: seniorsmatter2017 @gmail.com or phone 204-773-2316.
Senior Services events are published by the Russell Banner on page 4 every week, free of charge. The Meals on Wheels schedule is also printed free of charge by The Russell Banner when the updates arrive.