This Logan Central kitchen is a hive of activity from early morning five days a week.
When the older volunteers had to stay home to protect themselves from the threat of Covid -19 the Logan Central Service managed to continue.
Coordinator Ms Miranda Mendez has said help came from an unexpected source.
“Griffith University sent through their nutrition and dietetic students when our kitchen volunteers had to stay home. They were here five days a week for three months and it was really, really, really great. It was so helpful that we had these young people volunteering their time and they didn’t have to, especially during a pandemic. So, yeah, it was nice”.
They also implemented a strategy to keep their delivery drivers and clients safe.
“”Some of the things we put in place were that our delivery drivers only went to the door. They’d knock, the clients would leave a tray out, we’d put their food in, step back and wait for them to come to the door and things like that. They also wore masks and gloves and sanitised.So, yeah, we were able to cope fairly well” said Ms Mendez”.
The pandemic hasn’t stopped the service from increasing the number of people it’s helping. In fact they have around 30 new clients, according to Miranda Mendez.
“We provide meals to anybody in the local community. There’s a small cost involved in it, obviously, but you know anyone who wants to access it, single parents, full time working parents, those that are carers. Yeah, it’s not just specifically for the elderly. We do Logan Central, Woodridge, Kingston, Slacks Creek, Meadowbrook, Loganlea, Logan Reserve, Waterford West, Marsden and Crestmead”.
Fourteen volunteers currently work in the kitchen preparing meals for hundreds of people of all ages.
Those meals are delivered by another 21 volunteers and their companions to homes in Logan City.
Stroke survivor, George Holland is one of the delivery drivers who has worked through the pandemic.
“Ït was a little bit difficult at first cause we were a bit worried about what could happen but the last few months have been a lot easier. I haven’t really found a great deal of difference between before and after. We did have one guy, but he left, because he was a bit worried about going into someone’s house and whether he might catch something. So it has played a big thing in some people’s minds, not so much on mine though”.
High quality meals are prepared in the Meals on Wheels kitchen every day of the week and the menu varies every day.
Recently the meals being packaged up for delivery included fruit juice, French Onion soup, roast lamb with baked sweet potato, potato, pumpkin, broccoli and carrots. The dessert was bread and butter pudding.
Frozen meals can be supplied for weekends.
To start receiving Meals on Wheels simply make an online referral below, or call the service on 1300 90 97 90. They are available to answer your questions between 8:00am and 4:00pm, Monday to Friday.
If calling a local Meals on Wheels service direct, you need to take into consideration that kitchens and administrative staff start early in the morning and therefore by approximately 1.00 in the afternoon most centres will have closed for the day..
