Mayors for Meals

Meals on Wheels needs to fill 130 volunteer spots each week to deliver up to 170 meals daily to Thunder Bay residents, and on Thursday they had the help of the city’s top elected official.
 
Mayor Keith Hobbs delivered hot meals to seniors Thursday morning as part of Mayors for Meals, an annual international event that has mayors across North America bringing meals to their community’s seniors and people with disabilities.
 
“It’s important we recognize the good work these volunteers do and the service they provide to shut-ins and people that are having a struggle putting food on the table,” said Hobbs.

City of Thunder Bay Meals on Wheels program’s field worker Elizabeth Pim said Mayors for Meals is designed to remind people the organization exists and to recognize the work of the volunteers.

“We’re entirely volunteer-driven,” she said, adding they’re always looking for more volunteers.

“We have just enough volunteers to go around. We have 157 registered volunteers but at any given time we may have only 120 available to us and there are 130 volunteer spots every week because we have 13 routes.”

Hobbs said he wanted to get involved to recognize the good work volunteers do in the city.

“It’s amazing and we’re trying to promote volunteerism; it’s something I want to see to help with the crime issues in the city,” he said. “I want to see volunteers go out and walk the streets…and this is a great program.”


Pim said the program intends to keep seniors and people with disabilities independent as long as it is practical, which means living on their own in their homes.


“Sometimes Meals on Wheels is the only home support an individual needs to stay at home,” she said.

For more information on Meals on Wheels call 625-3667 or 684-2862.