Drivers needed to deliver meals

Meals on Wheels: New Zealand Red Cross – Taranaki branch: - New Zealand Red Cross delivers more than 15,000 meals on wheels to the housebound and elderly in the New Plymouth district every year.

This number has continued to increase over the last few years and the recent retirement of some of the long-serving volunteers means there is an urgent need for new volunteer drivers for this essential service.

The Inglewood branch has about 0 drivers who deliver meals five days a week.

Not only does the service provide a nourishing meal for clients, the volunteer drivers also provide many of the recipients with the security of knowing they will have some daily contact with others, which many of them lack.

You do not need to make a large commitment as you will be put on a roster that suits the time you have available.

Generally, you have the roster for a month – one day (the same day) per week; the start time for this service is 11.30am and it usually takes about an hour depending on the number of meals being delivered. Inglewood is quite small, so it doesn’t take too long to deliver to all those receiving the meals. If there are a couple of you, one person can drive and the other can deliver and it will take even less time.

If you have always thought about volunteering, but thought that you couldn’t because you were travelling a lot, or have the grandchildren, or you have children and they are at school, and you have a couple of hours in the middle of the day to spare and would like to help, this could be that opportunity.

It could be for just four or five hours every couple of months, or you could even go on the emergency drivers list. Drivers are reimbursed at a set rate per meal to assist with costs.

A police check is required for these roles and this does take several weeks to process and be returned, so if you are not available immediately and you are interested in helping out with this rewarding role, or if you are simply curious to learn more, contact Wendy at Volunteering New Plymouth on (06) 758 8986, phone or text 022 571 4228, or email admin@volunteeringnewplymouth .nz to talk about options and start the process.