Chris Watling is hoping a fundraising Souper Lunch will help support those who receive Meals on Wheels, especially during upcoming holidays.
Watling is one of many volunteers delivering meals across the region. She looks at her work as an opportunity to give back to her community not only by making sure seniors have healthy meals, but also that they are doing well at home.
She has been delivering meals for more than 20 years, she says, and has come to know some of her clients quite well, so she notices anything out of the ordinary, such as them not coming to their door. She volunteers with her husband — he drives, and she drops off the meals. “Sometimes we’ll drop off a meal and the meal from the day before is still there. That’s a red flag,” she says. “If I think anything is wrong, I call the office, and they can contact a family member.”
When she is able to chat with a client, and sees the smile on their faces, “that’s the greatest reward.”
The meals for seniors all across the Niagara Region are now all prepared at Niagara Ina Grafton Gage Village in St. Catharines, explains Watling, and there are several offices and pick-up sites across the region for volunteers to load their vehicles.
Meals can be delivered hot, or ordered frozen ahead of time, with special dietary restrictions available.
Fundraising has always been part of the job, but it was disrupted during COVID, Watling says. “We’re back at it now.”
The lunch, which will be held this Wednesday, Nov. 13 in the Gale Centre in Niagara Galls, offers two bowls of soup for $25.
The agency is also a partner in Let’s Go Home (LEGHO), a new program through Niagara Health, for hospital patients who are returning home, but need some help, including ensuring nutritious meals are available to them, explains Watling. This is a temporary program, government-funded, until it can be taken over by Meals on Wheel, she says.
There are many seniors who live below current income standards, especially women, and having good food, from all food groups and tailored to special dietary needs, such as for those with diabetes, is particularly important.
Wednesday’s soup fundraiser will go toward purchasing food, mainly for holiday meals that are delivered “hot and free. We make sure our clients get a hot meal every holiday.”
The soup served at the fundraiser will be prepared by students from two high school culinary programs, St. Michael and Stamford in Niagara Falls, as well as The Grist Restaurant and Sodexa Food Services, Bittersweet and Symphony, and St. Joseph’s Bakery.
Souper Lunch, which includes soup, rolls and dessert, will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in the Hearthside Room at The Gale Centre, 5152 Thorold Stone Road in Niagara Falls.
For more information about Meals on Wheels services across the region, how to arrange for meal delivery, or for those interested in volunteering — there is always. need for more volunteers — visit https://mealsonwheelsniagara.ca/.
