Meals on Wheels needs a boost in volunteer drivers to meet the needs of seniors in Prince George.
The service is overseen by the Prince George Council of Seniors with meals prepared at the Prince George & District Senior Citizens Activity Centre Society at 425 Brunswick St. from Monday to Friday.
Volunteering is a good deed that requires very little time or energy, said one volunteer.
“It makes my day,” Shawn Basi said about his occasional volunteer duties with the Meals on Wheels program in Prince George. “To see those smiling faces when you deliver a meal, there’s nothing like it.”
Kalvin Basi, Shawn’s dad, is retired so he’s made a commitment to volunteer for his once-a-week route that doesn’t even take him an hour to complete.
“I’ve been volunteering for the last five years,” Kalvin said. “Ever since I retired I’ve given back to the community and looking after seniors – what could be better than that? And you never know I might need it one day, too. Just seeing the smiles on people’s faces – one of my ladies – she’s 102 years old and she’s always so happy to see me.”
Kalvin's son, Shawn, is the one that gets the call when things don’t go quite as they should for Meals on Wheels coordinator Nicole Currie.
"I work full time and never take a lunch except when I get that call from Nicole and then I go," Shawn smiled.
Shawn said a volunteer can make their route as long or as short as they wish as they stop to chat with the people getting their meal delivered.
“Sometimes you talk for a few minutes and the people just love it and that might be the only interaction a senior gets all day," Shawn said. "When I go back to work afterward I tell my business partner how great I feel about it. I did my good deed.”
To volunteer at Meals on Wheels a volunteer needs to have a criminal record check done and have a valid driver’s licence. Volunteers need about an hour of free time and they can pick and choose their routes as they’d like. The maximum commitment is an hour and a half, Nicole said.
“We have about 55 volunteers and it’s still not enough because since everything’s opening up our volunteers, who are mostly seniors themselves, are going on longer vacations,” Nicole said.
So it would be nice to have more volunteers to fill in the gaps, she added.
Each route is set out in a small area of town so that the time driving between delivery destinations is minimal and depending on the volunteer they can deliver between four and eight meals on their route. The volunteer can pick and choose where they would like to deliver and right now delivery is only available in the bowl area so the routes are never very far away.
Through Meals on Wheels there is the Adopt-A-Senior program to help ease the financial burden for low income seniors.
“It can be sad at times, I deliver to a couple in a household who are sharing one meal because of affordability,” Shawn said. “It’s sad that they have to make the decision to buy their meds that month or get their meals. There’s just so much that goes on and the seniors who are getting their meals delivered are so appreciative of it.”
Shawn and Kalvin donate to the Adopt-A-Senior program through their NorthSide Auto Sales business and challenge other small businesses to do the same.
“It’s not a big commitment and we know it helps a lot and it makes us feel so good to help,” Kalvin said.
“It’s one of the few things we donate to and it’s not a lot of money but we know it goes so far,” Shawn added.
Right now the service provides meals for about 75 people in Prince George. There’s a waiting list for those who need the service and so that’s another reason why there’s a call out for volunteer drivers.
“To volunteer gives you the warm and fuzzies,” Kalvin grinned.
For more information about volunteering as a Meals on Wheels driver contact the Prince George Council of Seniors at 250-564-5888 or mow@pgcos.ca.
