Nationals Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson has thanked Tamworth Meals on Wheels for continuing to support local elderly clients throughout the pandemic.
“Tamworth Meals on Wheels do a great job in supporting our community and I want to thank Manager Peter Gallagher, his team and all the volunteers who keep the service running,” Mr Anderson said.
“The past two years have been particularly challenging for the elderly. Isolation has been a big issue for many in our community and I know how important it is for clients to have a point of contact with service providers like Meals on Wheels.
“In 2021, Tamworth Meals on Wheels delivered around 100,000 meals to 300 clients and the need for their services in our community continues to grow as our city grows.
“With a team of just 6 full time and 2 part time staff, the service relies on volunteers who have all done a fantastic job throughout the pandemic and I want to thank them for their service to their community.”
Meals on Wheels manager Peter Gallagher said the service was experiencing more demand than ever and that meant there was greater need for volunteers to support the demand.
“Since COVID hit two years ago, the demand on our services have increased by 25%,” Mr Gallagher said.
“We have to keep our band of volunteers going. We’ve got 120 volunteers at the moment; we’d like to see that go up to about 150 over a period of time. Most volunteers do one delivery a month and we have other volunteers who do one a week or two a week and we’ve got a few volunteers who do three a week.
“It’s the volunteers who make this business work. They put 14,000 hours into this business every year and without them we could not function.”
People can register to volunteer for Meals on Wheels online at https://nswmealsonwheels.org.au/get-involved/volunteer/register-step-1 or by calling Tamworth Meals on Wheels on (02) 6765 8999.
