Meals on Wheels volunteers offer crucial service
One million meals each year are prepared and delivered by Meals on Wheels volunteers to more than 30,000 people whose autonomy is diminished: Most are elderly. Meals on Wheels Week in Quebec, which runs to March 21, highlights the work done by these volunteers, without whom the program would not exist.
Meals on Wheels is a volunteerdriven organization and meals are provided at relatively low cost. As the population ages, demands for Meals on Wheels service increases and, along with it, the need for volunteers. Claudette Coulombe, director of the Regroupement des popotes roulantes, which brings together meals- on- wheels organizations, has urged Quebecers to contact the Meals on Wheels group in their neighbourhood about volunteering: A commitment of no more than a few hours a month is needed.
Élyse Marquis, an actor, television and radio host, and Regroupment spokesperson for this year’s Meals on Wheels Week, said that volunteers “make a big difference in the lives of many people ... in addition to providing the meals, the volunteers delivering them are often the only people the recipients see in a day.”
Learn more about Meals on Wheels kitchens in your neighbourhood at popotes.org.
On the West Island, where Meals on Wheels programs are overseen by Volunteer West Island, more than 43,000 meals are served each year with the help of more than 850 volunteers in 13 Meals on Wheels kitchens. Contact Volunteer West Island at 514- 457- 5445, ext. 227, for information about volunteering.
More than 400 guests gathered at Marché Bonsecours on Feb. 19 for the 16th and final edition of Maskarade, the Farha Foundation’s annual masked ball, and raised close to $ 300,000 in support of the HIV/ AIDS cause.
Since 1992, the Farha Foundation has distributed nearly $ 9.3 million to 76 Quebec groups providing services to people with HIV/ AIDS including housing, medication, food, palliative care and homecare, as well as HIV/ AIDS prevention and education programs. Visit farha. qc. ca to learn more.
The foundation expressed gratitude to its sponsors — Aldo, 4Bank of Montreal, TD Canada Trust, RBC Royal Bank, Virgin Radio, Zenergy Communications, SAQ, CTV, Davies, Rogers, Lotus Photography and Milgram, and to supporting partners, volunteers and staff.
The National Bank of Canada, Quebec’s largest bank, announced Feb. 3 that it will support 175 projects for nearly 27,000 young people across Canada with a total of $ 1 million. The submissions were by not- for- profit organizations, elementary schools and high schools and they included ideas for projects focused on education, health and wellness or pursuing passions. The selections were made by 12 One for Youth regional committees, eight of them in Quebec.
At its Celebration of Giving event in January, Telus announced that it donated $ 2.8 million in 2014 to support more than 110 organizations in the Greater Montreal area. It recognized Groupe Meloche for its commitment to the community with the Telus SMB Award.