While everyone was digging out of last week’s snowfall, or griping about the cold temperatures, the local Meals on Wheels volunteers braved both elements to ensure people got their food.
The meal delivery service ran all week through the less than favourable weather and program coordinator Cheryl Day said it was interesting trying to get the food out.
“Our drivers are all volunteers and they are fabulous,” said Day. “They all showed up, nobody phoned and said they couldn’t come because the weather is too miserable. They all came.
“It was tough, one driver got stuck four or five times.”
About 110 meals in Red Deer are delivered by Meals on Wheels on any given day, though it does vary and there are about eight to 10 routes drivers go on with one car per route, sometimes it is a couple that does the delivering together.
It did take a little longer on Monday to deliver. Day said they usually load up the cars at about 11:15 a.m. and everyone gets back to the Pidherney’s Curling Centre, where they are based out of, by about 12:30 p.m.
On Monday one driver didn’t get back until after 2 p.m., but had made all of his deliveries.
“There was one driver who had two places she couldn’t get to,” said Day. “It has certainly been a challenge, but our volunteers are fabulous and they make sure they get everybody fed.”
And while all the volunteers showed up Monday, Day said they did have some meal recipients call and say they would understand if the drivers couldn’t make it.
“We didn’t do that, we went to everybody we should have and everybody that was on the list,” said Day.
“They were just thrilled that we got to them all.”
Day said it can be hard to get drivers to volunteer regularly, regardless of the weather. Anyone interested in being a driver for Meals on Wheels can call 403-340-2511.
“I can’t say enough about our drivers,” said Day. “They came through remarkably, they came with a smile on their face and said ‘let’s do this.’”
mcrawford@www.reddeeradvocate.com