By Sarah Ferguson, Fort Erie Times
Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Mayor Wayne Redekop took some time last week to deliver piping-hot meals to a handful of Fort Erie’s residents.

He was one of a number of community leaders including fire Chief Larry Coplen to make special deliveries last Wednesday with Meals on Wheels volunteers in honour of March for Meals Community Champions Week.

Nancy Ryan, executive director of Meals on Wheels, said she was grateful to have well known leaders in the community participate in the March For Meals Community Champions Week.

Although some of Meals on Wheels clients might “get a little nervous” to have community leaders deliver their meals, the nervousness quickly disappears.

“(Community Champions Week) is a special week,” Ryan said. “When our clients meet the community leaders, that nervousness goes away and all of the sudden they want to bending the ears of their local politicians and share their thoughts—then they get excited.”

March For Meals is a nationwide event celebrated during the month of March. It’s organized by Meals on Wheels America.

March for Meals has been celebrated in the U.S. for the last 14 years Fort Erie Meals on Wheels has been participating in the event for eight years.

Fort Erie Meals on Wheels has been serving the needs of the community, delivering both hot and frozen meals to elderly, disabled and home bound residents for more than 43 years. Last year, the program delivered over 18,000 meals.

In order to continue to serve the needs of the community, Ryan said Meals on Wheels couldn’t do what it does without the support of its volunteers.

“We have amazing volunteers, without the volunteers we’d have no program. Many say to me volunteering gives them a warm fuzzy. They feel joy when they deliver and that’s why the keep coming back.”

For the many people who use Meals on Wheels, the volunteers that bring them their meals is “the only person they’ll see that day.”

“Many times, are clients have families that live far away so it’s also a security check. That security check is as important as that nutritious meal. Many times families live far away because the families.”