CHRISTINE WEBSTER
THE Waikerie branch of Meals on Wheels is seeking volunteers to cook and make deliveries.
SA Meals on Wheels board member and Waikerie branch chair, Shirley Mudge, said the organisation had been experiencing a shortage of helpers since half-way through last year,
“People just started to retire,” she said.
I think Covid might have had a bit to do with it, but not a lot.”
Mrs Mudge said helper shortages were commonplace during winter.
“This time of the year, a lot of people go away to warmer climates and we have had some people retire and we have had some people move out of the area,” she said.
Waikerie, Renmark and Mount Gambier are the only three country branches in South Australia that prepare their meals on site.
Mrs Mudge said good cooking skills were no prerequisite to volunteering and Meals on Wheels was “a great way to learn”.
“We will train you and all the recipes are supplied from Adelaide,” she said.
“We have five chefs in Adelaide who make up all our menus for us, so we don’t even have to do the menus.”
The Waikerie branch prepares up to 35 to 40 meals each day.
Meals for clients with special dietary needs are prepared in Adelaide and delivered frozen to Waikerie.
Mrs Mudge said the volunteers who deliver also check on the welfare of their clients.
“If someone is not at home we report to the client services officer and then she checks up on them too, to make sure they are OK,” she said.
During Covid-19, the Waikerie branch of Meals on Wheels continued to provide a service every weekday.
Mrs Mudge said strict protocols including the use of hand sanitiser were required.
The meals were left on a table outside the clients’ door or left just inside the clients’ door.
“When all the over 70s were asked not to come in due to Covid-19, any of us that were younger than that, we just did extra shifts, we didn’t have any problems at all,” Mrs Mudge said.
She said despite the shortage of volunteers existing ones were still happy to cover the load.
Mrs Mudge said volunteers of all ages were welcome to join the Waikerie branch of Meals on Wheels.
She said it would be good to see some younger people become involved, as the average age of present helpers was 65 to 70.
Waikerie’s Meals on Wheels has a number of long serving volunteers, the longest has been with the organisation for 37 years, while others have donated their time for 20 years.
Mrs Mudge, 65, has been donating her time for 31 years.
People interested in becoming a Waikerie Meals on Wheels volunteer can call her on 0457 720 029.