A local program that delivers meals to the sick, elderly, or mentally challenged is in danger of drastic cutbacks if it can't find volunteers to carry on.
It's a familiar tale these days, but Meals on Wheels needs immediate help.
Hot meals are delivered by volunteers who provide regular social contact and a security check. The daily meal consists of meat, potato, rice or pasta and vegetables, salad or soup, dessert and fresh fruit.
Program Supervisor Terry-Lynn Gravelle tells BayToday that the situation locally has become dire.
"We've really been struggling for the last year or so."
Gravelle is looking for at least eight volunteers to each give two hours a week of their time. The existing volunteers face extra shifts and burnout and could use a break.
Lately, Gravelle, who needs to be in the office coordinating the program, has found herself doing double duty covering routes that are unfilled because she doesn't want anyone to go hungry.
"It's a struggle. I'm going on vacation starting next week, but I have to come in four of the seven days just to do routes because we don't have enough people."
Meals on Wheels serves people unable to prepare adequate and nourishing meals on a day-to-day basis, like those convalescing, elderly, terminally ill, mentally/physically challenged, chronically ill, new mothers, and caregivers.
The Home Meal Replacement Program provides frozen meals delivered weekly or bi-weekly according to persons' dietary requirements such as diabetic, renal, puree, low sodium, low fat, lactose-free, gluten-free, and vegetarian diets.
The Meals for Moms delivers to new mothers to ensure nutritional well-being.
"Some routes only have five or six people on them, but other routes have 50, it depends on the area of the city, so there's the potential that if we can't find enough people then we may have to start restricting and putting people on waitlists where we currently don't do that. We try to provide meals to everybody that needs them," explains Gravelle.
Volunteers are needed to do one route a week that usually lasts about two hours between 11:30 and 1:30.
Meals are picked up at Cassellholme, sorted, and delivered, then the bags are returned to Cassellholme.
"People then go about their day, so it's literally just two hours a week."
Volunteers have to have their own car, and gas is paid for. Often, friends or married couples team up to make deliveries which makes it much faster than when you're doing it by yourself.
Gravelle says a few people accept gas money but, "The rest of them just wish to donate it back to Meals on Wheels."
Gravelle adds that the work is very satisfying for volunteers.
"It's very rewarding especially when you're doing a consistent route. You get to know your clients, you get to see them, then it's also a wellness check so if something's out of sorts with somebody then they contact me and then I proceed from there."
Those wellness checks have paid off, sending multiple people to the hospital because they've had some issues.
Covid had a big effect on the volunteer numbers with just a third of the volunteers from before covid still being there.
BayToday did an article when COVID-19 hit.
See: North Bay Meals on Wheels program desperate for volunteers amid COVID19 situation
"We got bombarded with a bunch of volunteers. We had basically a waitlist for volunteering, but they all went back to work afterward.
"We had one gentleman leave. He's been doing it for over 20 years. He's in his eighties and It was just getting too much. A lot of it now is health-related because my volunteers are getting older so they can't keep up with it anymore. But it's I don't think it's just Meals on Wheels. I have talked to somebody with the Red Cross and they struggling, too."
Gravelle notes that over the last five years, she's had several younger people start.
"But they're doing it because it looks great on the resume, and then they become a police officer or they get a full-time firefighter position, so we've had a multiple of those that have happened, so, of course, we lose them then, but we haven't even gotten many of those lately. We don't have any younger ones.
"Right now Meals on Wheels does deliveries every single day. It's getting to the point that something's gotta give."
If you can spare a couple of hours a week to help, give Terry-Lynn Gravelle a call at 705-472-8050 Ext 38224.
See also: Almaguin residents seek volunteer drivers for medical appointments
