As we move into another chilly winter, we transition into our warmer winter menu items. We hope you are enjoying the new range of meal options.

We continue to receive a large number of new referrals to the service each day which is often the case as winter sets in.  Welcome to all our new clients!

Our intake process requires some robust discussions with clients to ensure we get all the dietary and delivery information we need to provide a great service. We are also glad to report a number of new clients providing glowing feedback about the positive impact our service has on their general well-being and their ability to attend to more enjoyable tasks with their renewed energy!  In addition to that, we  often hear such great reports about how lovely our delivery drivers are. These are the best compliments we can get.  Thank you everyone!

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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…)