Meals on Wheels opens its own kitchen

Meals on Wheels is operating out of a third spot in Fredericton — and this time the charity is doing the cooking as well as delivery.

Every day, the charity delivers 200 hot meals to seniors and vulnerable people living at home.

Betty Daniels, executive director of Meal on Wheels in Fredericton, said the need for this service has been increasing.

"About two years ago, the growth that we've been experiencing, which has been happening for a number of years, was really placing a lot of stress on the two meals sources that we had," she said.

Meals and Wheels has been outsourcing meals from Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital and the York Care Centre, but those kitchens can only provide a maximum of 100 meals each. Daniels said that wasn't sustainable, as Meals on Wheels went from distributing 31,000 meals a year in 2014 to 60,000 meals this year.

"[There was a] worry that we would have to create a waiting list, that we would have to turn people away, and that just was not something we were willing to consider," she said.

So for over a year the non-profit was looking for their own kitchen, finally finding the right space to rent — where Real Food Connections and later Locavore foods used to operate on Hanwell road.

Before closing, Real Food Connections retailed locally produced food.

"It's just taken such a load off of us in terms of worrying that we were not going to be able to meet the needs of our community as our population continues to age," she said.

Now the charity outsources from the hospital and York Care Centre, as well as having staff prepare meals in the new kitchen space.

Funding help

Daniels said the non-profit has had "tremendous help from the community" to continue operating.

"Very recently we received a grant from the Windsor Foundation, which is a private foundation whose founder was from northern New Brunswick, to assist us in getting a much needed generator for this facility as well as helping us to reach the goal of self-sustainability," she said.

She also named the United Way, Direct Charge Co-op, Cooperation in Agri-Food New Brunswick and the Department of Social Development.

"For us to have this facility means that we can grow as our population ages and the need grows," Daniels said.

The service couldn't be functional without the supportive staff.

"We have tremendous staff," she said. "We have wonderful volunteers and it's just a going concern from here about 7 in the morning until we put meals out at 11."