UPDATE: Meals on Wheels back in driver's seat after SooToday story

UPDATE:

A SooToday story published this week highlighting the urgent need for more Meals on Wheels volunteer drivers has led some community members to reach out to the program's co-ordinator.

"I actually have received a great number of responses," said Cassidy Ryan, in an email sent to SooToday on Thursday. "It certainly is going to help out the program. When I came in this morning, I had 29 voicemails, 44 emails and they just continue to keep rolling in." 

In case you missed it, the original story is below.

ORIGINAL STORY:

For approximately 50 years, Meals on Wheels in Sault Ste. Marie has been delivering meals to isolated people in need of food and empathy.

Now more than ever, the service needs volunteer drivers to deliver meals.   

“We are having a very hard time right now," said program co-ordinator Cassidy Ryan, in an interview with SooToday. "We’re honestly at the point where if we do not get more volunteer drivers I cannot see this program going on any further."

“Our goal would be ideally to have anywhere from 75 to 100 volunteer drivers. I would say right now we have 40 to 45. A lot of them are husband and wife so they only deliver together on their specific day and route. We are desperately in need.”

Meals on Wheels volunteer drivers deliver one nutritional meal to seniors - as well as people who are recovering from surgery, suffering from chronic illness and disabilities - from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The meals are prepared at the F. J. Davey Home, with volunteer drivers taking them to assigned clients throughout the Sault. 

Funding for the program comes from Home and Community Care Support Services, formerly known as the Northeast Local Health Integration Network (LHIN). Extendicare provides funding for F.J. Davey Home meals.

“We have lost so many volunteers,” Ryan said.

“The majority of them are seniors themselves and some no longer have their driver's licenses. We’ve had people who are off for surgery and don’t know when they will be returning. We have a bunch that have recently gone off. I’ve got two that went off today, I had one that went off yesterday. People go for surgery, and summer’s coming up so others are preparing to go off for the summer.”

Ryan said she often leaves her Meals on Wheels office located within the Davey Home and delivers meals to clients herself.

“We have two or three unfilled routes and it takes an hour and a half to deliver for one route, so if I’m going out and delivering on three routes I’m spending my whole day in the car delivering as opposed to getting anything done as the program coordinator in the office. I had to cancel my vacation because we don’t have enough drivers.”

Volunteering to drive and deliver for Meals on Wheels is flexible, Ryan said.

“It can be once a week, bi-weekly, as frequently as they can. It’s an hour and a half or two hours a day once a week or even once a month. Anything would help at this point. We need as many helping hands as we can get.”

The situation has gotten progressively worse since 2022, Ryan said.

“We don’t have many younger volunteer drivers. Some are in their twenties but one of them has accepted a job out of town. A lot of our volunteers are older and as that generation goes out we are not having many of the newer generation coming in.”

Meals on Wheels in the Sault currently has 120 clients with more on a waiting list.

Ryan said the service may have to be cut to 60 clients under the current circumstances.

“We have people that are in dire need of meals. This is a program that’s very needed in the community. If we don’t have drivers we can’t give meals to these clients.”

Meals on Wheels drivers cover six routes across the city, those routes being west end, central, central-east, east end, Jamestown and downtown.

Individuals interested in volunteering their time must contact Ryan at 705-256-4239 or through email, fill out an application and complete a criminal record check before becoming a Meals on Wheels driver. Drivers must have a valid driver’s license and reliable vehicle.

“These are all seniors that have little to no family,” Ryan said.

“They all have medical issues. A lot of them can not cook and that’s why they get these meals. We want to keep them in their homes longer so they don't have to go to long term care facilities.”