The Meals on Wheels Program in Weyburn is in need of volunteers to give some of their time to help ensure quality nutrition for home care clients.

Deborah Augey is the Saskatchewan Health Authority's Volunteer Coordinator for Estevan and Weyburn. She said the program has not made a full comeback since COVID began in 2020.

"We need to get that back up and running because it is an important community program. Having one's meal is an important part of keeping healthy and strong and staying healthy, to be able to live at home. So that's the goal at Home Care is to help people remain at home through our care and through nutrition, so we're hoping now that we could get some interest in the community to come back and just help us."

She said it doesn't take a whole lot of time for volunteers. 

"The meals are picked up at Tatagwa View," she noted. "Our volunteers would be delivering Monday through Friday and not every day of the week. It's very flexible as far as how we schedule, but the meals are lunchtime meals and they are ready for pickup at 11:15 at Tatagwa View and we have three routes."

Augey said the routes are not very long, with approximately seven or eight clients on each. "So it takes approximately half an hour to deliver those meals."  

"Not only is the driver delivering a hot, nutritious meal to the client, but they are providing some contact for that person from the outside world. Many people have limited mobility and are not able to get out and socialize and just be part of the community as they once had," she shared. "So just a quick little visit from somebody from the outside can make quite a difference in their world. They're spreading a little bit of cheer, right? A smile, a kind word. A little bit of talk. And then they're on their way. But as brief as that may be, it is an important thing."

With around 30 clients on the program, not everyone gets a meal every day.

"Not everyone wants a meal every day, but I think the minimum for any person on the program would be, I believe, two days a week," she clarified. "Some people do get meals five days a week, some only get two meals a week. So it just depends."

She said this is why every day is somewhat different in terms of how many meals and to whom they'd be delivered.

"One of the difficulties with the program is people might be interested in doing this, say business people or working people, but because it's kind of at that lunch hour time frame, it's not always easy," she noted. "It just depends on the person, and we do work to accommodate or put the person in where they are available and where they would like to be."

Registration begins with either going online to saskhealthauthority.ca to get started, or by phoning 306-637-3630 or emailing deborah.augey@saskhealthauthority.ca. 

"We ask people to register online and if they are not able to, they can simply phone me or e-mail me and I can take down their information and register them, then we follow that with requesting various screening documents," she explained. "We do request a criminal record, vulnerable sector check. We have a confidentiality agreement and a code of conduct. We ask for two references, and there is an online general orientation."

She said those who are not computer savvy but want to be part of this, "There are ways that we can work around that and do an on-site working of that online orientation."

After that, the volunteer is given an ID badge and are set to spread some cheer.

"It doesn't take a whole lot of time and it is something that they can fit in, and we all feel good when we help others, when we do good, and it doesn't have to be magnificent, huge or long, it just needs to be a little bit of something." 

"We just welcome lots of groups, businesses, churches, families, couples, individuals, people involved in service groups, anyone who's wanting to get out and do a little bit of good in a very simple and direct way." 

Find the SHA's volunteering site HERE.

The poster with the QR code can be found HERE.