Newsletters

Happy New Year!

I think it’s an obvious statement to say that we all hope for a happy and healthy 2021 – anything would be a vast improvement on 2020.

We experienced some wonderful moments in 2020 as a result of the circumstances we found ourselves in. Some great gestures of generosity and humanity in the midst of all the difficulties faced by communities at a local, national and international level.  As you know from previous newsletters we received many generous donations of goods for our clients and we welcomed new volunteers!

(more…)

Springtime again!

Our Summer Menu will start in a few week’s time which means once again we will be offering our salads on Tuesdays and Thursdays in addition to the other new meal choices.  We hope you enjoy the change in meal options and hope you might try one of the delicious salads as a refreshing food option for a hot summers’ day.

(more…)

Welcome to another chilly New England winter.  My goodness it has been a hectic few months here – I hope this newsletter can cover all the activities that have been happening for us all!

Firstly, thank you so much to everyone for adjusting our delivery routine to allow for social distancing and ‘no-contact’ deliveries. We are so lucky that we have been able to continue our service without any hiccups throughout autumn. We ask that our volunteers continue to please use hand sanitiser.

Secondly, a big WELCOME to all of our new volunteers and also to a large number of new and returning clients who are taking advantage of our service to help maintain healthy eating at home. (more…)

From the Manager’s Desk

Spring Time again – lets keep all our fingers and toes crossed for that elusive rain we are all waiting for.

In a few weeks we will be looking ahead to our summer menu where we add salads to a few lighter meal options for those hot summer days.

There has been some recent media discussion concerning the security and amount of funding for MOW organisations. This is an ongoing issue for a number of service organisations because in 2018 our CHSP funding contracts were extended for 2 years without a full review. This means there are organisations trying to function in 2019-20 with the amount of funding originally allocated in 2014-15. There is some indexation applied however it is difficult for planning for the future when you are locked into a fixed funding allocation.

We are very fortunate to be in a sound financial position at present so I hope these reports have not caused any concern for you. (more…)

Happy Autumn everyone!

As we enjoy the changing seasons and colours of our wonderful New England, we are starting to experience colder days (and nights) and warmer food! We have now changed to our winter menu which will see us exchange the salads for your favourite winter tummy warmers.

We have just been given the good news that our current federal funding contract will be extended from July 2020 through to June 2022 which allows us to build on our stability and focus on the future without immediate concern for our funding security. This is a great relief.

In February we were visited by Assessors from the Aged Care Quality & Safety Commission who reviewed our operations from top to bottom. Thank you for those volunteers and clients who spoke to the assessors and provided your personal opinions about our service.

There is currently a set of 18 Aged Care Standards that we need to meet and it was determined that we are meeting every one of these standards which is an excellent achievement by all the team here, the committee and our volunteers – THANK YOU!

(more…)

Happy 2019 to All!

We hope you have all enjoyed a festive season with lots of fellowship, food and family. We all enjoyed just a few days off and are back into full swing for 2019.

We hosted several wonderful Christmas functions in December for local com-munity groups including Red Cross, Australian National Seniors (Armidale Branch); Rotary Central, U3A Singalong Group and Mah Jong Players who are shown here enjoy-ing their dessert.

We anticipate a big year ahead! (more…)

It’s that time of the year ago folks – as we enjoy the change in seasons, we will shortly be making changes to our menu to offer salads several times each week and some lighter, more ‘summery’ meal options.

2018 AGM – All our Volunteers are invited to attend and participate in the 2018 Annual General Meeting which is to be held with an after-noon tea at 2.30pm on Monday 29th October.
Any of our clients who might be interested are also welcome. (more…)

Greetings all,

Looking back at the last financial year I am glad to be able to reflect on the number of projects we have completed such as the addition of the partition wall between the dining room and administration areas; painting through-out the kitchen and storage area; the installation of solar panels and also our new walk-in freezer. These are mostly projects that we received grants to complete in the past and we were extremely keen to demon-strate that we were committed to their undertaking. It’s a great relief to have all the projects completed and as mentioned in this, and previous, newsletters the additional funding received through Armidale Central Ro-tary has assisted us greatly to finish these projects properly.
All this has been taking place while we maintain the service of between 2,500 and 3,000 meals each month. We always welcome feedback about the meal service so please call the office if you have any issues to discuss.
(more…)

As the chills of winter descend upon us again, I hope everyone has their firewood stacked and their rugs and uggs ready!

There was a bit of a hiccup with our kitchen staff in March when our Chef left us at short notice. We did manage to get our meals prepared and delivered with some assistance from our previous chef Kellie and a fantastic team effort from everyone here.

We are delighted to welcome Rachael Morley to Meals on Wheels as our new permanent Chef. She has moved to us from another local business who I am sure are missing her as much as we are enjoying having her here.
(more…)