Toronto’s Meals on Wheels program speaking out over need for volunteers

Non-profits like Dixon Hall say help is hard to find post Holidays. Stella Acquisto reports. 

By Stella Acquisto and Meredith Bond

An agency that provides many community services, including running a Meals on Wheels program, is hoping to get the word out about a need for volunteers this time of year.

Dixon Hall volunteers work packing up meals, loading cars and delivering food to residents in Toronto’s Downtown East area as part of the program.

“They’re very isolated seniors, the vulnerable, marginalized, and so we make sure that they get their meals but also do a safety check in security check and make sure that they are doing well,” said Mina Mawani, the CEO of Dixon Hall.

Dixon Hall serves about 550 people, and around 70,000 meals are provided to seniors in the downtown east corridor here.

Mawani said a lack of volunteers has been an issue across all non-profits and charitable organizations. They used to have close to 300 volunteers before the COVID-19 pandemic and are now down to just 60.

“Over the pandemic, we started losing them significantly … Most of the people that volunteer for us are seniors themselves, and so they were feeling vulnerable,” said Mawani. “We were providing meals seven days a week, and then we started losing volunteers, and we had to bring that down to four days a week during the pandemic.”

Toronto Centre City Councillor Chris Moise was among the volunteers on Thursday and encouraged people to help.

“This program is essential as you know that there’s a lot of food insecurity in our city right now. Many people are going hungry, and services like this at Dixon Hall help people put food in their stomachs. So, I’m happy to support it,” said Moise. “We need more programs like this. As we know, inflation and food cost are high.”

“If we don’t have this, you know, people will go hungry. I’m happy to be here to support this program,” said Moise.

Mawani said they had seen a significant increase in the need for their Meals on Wheels program since the beginning of the pandemic.

“We’re starting to see many more people come to us and ask us for servicing. Services and meals. And we’ve also noticed that a lot of our seniors are now starting also to access food banks, which is, you know, quite troubling for us and not-for-profit charitable organizations.”

Moise added it’s important not only this time of year but for people to offer up their time.

“I know it’s hard, you know, people have commitments to work, your kids and a family. It isn’t easy, but every bit of time counts. You know, we’ve been an hour or two. It really helps many people in our community. I encourage people that can come out and support our community.”

A company called Broccolini has also been working with the Dixon Hall Meals on Wheels program to fill some of those volunteer gaps.

“We’ve been very supportive of Dixon Hall, and this program is needed,” said Ilana Shteinberg, a senior development manager with Broccolini. “We’re stepping up today, and we hope that our peers in the industry also step up to help the community.”

If you want more information about volunteering, you can head to the Dixon Hall website.

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