A MANANGATANG meal service is in jeopardy as a dwindling volunteer base hampers its ability to deliver to local residents.
Five days a week, every week, Manangatang Meals on Wheels provides meals to up to 10 elderly or sick residents.
Prepared by Manangatang and District Hospital, the meals fulfil the requirements of a balanced diet but for many of the recipients, it’s social contact they depend on.
But now, the 20 year old service is facing reductions as the tiny town of about 300 people struggles to find the numbers to continue it.
Existing volunteers are regularly required to fill gaps in rosters and double up on the days they are required to deliver meals, a process which takes around an hour.
An advertisement in the Manangatang community newsletter calling for volunteers has yet to bear any fruit, so Swan Hill Rural City Council are now leading a push to retain the service.
There are between 20 and 30 volunteers on the books in Manangatang but the council’s coordinator of community care services Darren Ingram said in order to continue the service, they needed volunteers who could consistently give up an hour of their time.
“In theory we only need 20 volunteers, but not everyone’s available every month so we’re after people who are able to volunteer regularly,” he said.
“It’s a very important service … for some people it may be the only contact they have with someone outside the house.”
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer is invited to an afternoon tea to be held on Monday, June 6 at 2.30pm at the Manangatang Senior Citizens Centre.
Or you can contact Council’s Meals on Wheels coordinator Carolyn Harrop on 5036 4700.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of Friday’s Guardian (May 13, 2016).
