Moate benefits from Meals on Wheels
by Adrian Cusack Updated: Wednesday, 15th February, 2012 5:15pm
New outreach service sees 25 meals a day delivered
Five days a week, some 25 residents in Moate and surrounding areas now receive a knock on the door to tell them their hot meal from the Athlone Meals on Wheels service has arrived.
As important as these deliveries are to the recipients' nutrition, Pat McTiernan of Athlone Meals on Wheels pointed out that they serve a more profound purpose.
"This is a service that enables the elderly to remain independent, in their own homes, for as long as possible," she said. "Also the residents get to know the person delivering the meal, and that social contact is very important."
Athlone Meals on Wheels was started in the town 38 years ago and Pat, its treasurer, said the service has been "going, and growing, continuously since then."
From its kitchen at Arás Bríd, on Excise Street, it prepares some 600 meals a week for people in Athlone and its hinterland. Its new 'Outreach Service' to the Moate area was started last November and it will be officially launched by the Deputy Mayor of Athlone, Jim Henson, this Friday.
Outlining the background to this initiative, Pat explained that there had been a request last year from Aine McFadden, the District Nurse in Moate, asking Athlone Meals on Wheels if it would consider extending its service to Moate.
While volunteer drivers deliver the meals in Athlone, it was decided that a different approach was needed for the Moate-area service.
Because of the significant distances between these meal recipients, most of whom live in rural locations, the Meals on Wheels group purchased a van for the Moate deliveries.
She added that the group was thankful to the Athlone Community Services Council and FAS for providing a Community Employment Scheme worker to serve as the van driver for the new service.
"With the Moate Outreach Service we deliver about 25 meals a day but we can see that figure becoming much larger in future," said Pat, who has been volunteering with Athlone Meals On Wheels since its inception in 1974.
She said that, because the Meals On Wheels group organises fundraising events, people sometimes regard it as a charity. That's an image she would like to dispel.
"The service is open to anybody with a referral, and there is a charge for it," she said. "We ask for €3 a day or €4 a day from people in outlying districts. If people want to give us more that we will gladly accept it.
"The referrals to the service come from the person's GP, Public Health Nurse or Social Worker."
Some volunteer organisations have spoken of difficulties raising money during these tough economic times, but Pat said Athlone Meals on Wheels continues to benefit from the generosity of locals.
"We haven't seen any drop off in terms of our fundraising activities. We get donations from people and from firms, and we also get some funding from the HSE," she stated.
The service is heavily reliant on volunteers, including its Athlone-area drivers and seven-person management committee, but it also has three part-time staff working to prepare the meals.
The standards and guidelines with which the service has to comply have become much more strict over the years, and Pat said Athlone Meals on Wheels is now "a professional service in line with any other catering establishment providing food to members of the public."
The Meals on Wheels 'Outreach Service to Moate' will be officially launched at Arás Bríd, Exise Street, Athlone, this Friday at 2pm.
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