Nominator Comments:
During Covid we took it upon ourselves to safely visit seniors because we noticed a majority of them were becoming scared, lonely and showed signs of depression. It was so sad to watch. With-in a few weeks, their eyes had that sparkle back, now they had someone they could trust…and who would listen and give good advice. We brought them books, magazines, chocolate, sweets, fresh flowers, fresh fruit and a joke and a laugh…we even had a guitar player tag along for 4 weeks just to add a little more excitement.
Meals on Wheels Programs across the country closed because of Covid. The Dartmouth Seniors Service Centre closed our doors to the public for events and catering, but we were not going to let our senior clients not have a good meal. Our beautiful staff, volunteers and the pure dedication from all, found a way to make it work.
We cooked for 3 days and delivered 4 frozen and one fresh meal on every Monday morning. Our huge dining room was set up like a grocery store and 4 people had to fill the MOW order, 4 people packaged them, and 4 people put them is insulated bags. Then a total of 14 volunteers delivered the meals to our clients.
Over 700 meals went out every Monday and we were all proud of each other for the hard work, the care in our hearts and the feeling of helping the helpless.
Do it again in a heartbeat!
The DSSC has never had a service for senior shopping, appointments, drug store pickups. We often said it would be nice…but we didn’t have the staff or funds.
During Covid a lot of the staff and volunteers did grocery shopping, picked up prescriptions, took seniors for Covid testing or appointments. yes, Tim Horton was on the list also. It didn’t matter what they needed or wanted…we tried to make it happen.
There was one lady I won’t forget…I asked her if she was craving anything and she replied…”sure would be nice to have a piece of bologna and cheese”! Of course, within 24 hours she had enough for a few days. Do it again in a heartbeat!
