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New Westminster’s appetite for Meals on Wheels increases after snow

“My plea would be, we have got to look after each other."
Ice
Slippery sidewalk: Amarpal Nannar chops and shovels a sheet of ice from a Seventh Avenue sidewalk Tuesday.

Snow has caused a flurry of interest in some of the Seniors Services Society’s programs.

Brian Dodd, the society’s interim executive director, said the office is hearing from people who are having a tough time getting out of their homes.

“We are having, suddenly, a peak of interest in our grocery shopping services and our Meals on Wheels. It is definitely tough to get out,” he said. “We are actually hearing stories that some property management companies aren’t clearing in front of their apartment buildings, and that makes it doubly tough when you can’t get from the building to the sidewalk, let alone worry about what is going on on the sidewalk.”

While it takes a bit of time to set up the grocery shopping service, the society can begin delivering meals pronto. The office has been getting one to two calls daily from seniors interested in signing up for Meals on Wheels.

“We can do an immediate turnaround on the Meals on Wheels. If somebody phones in today, we can be delivering hot meals and/or frozen meals to them the next day,” Dodd said. “What some folks are doing is stocking up. They’ll say, ‘Give me a hot meal every two days, but I’d like a half dozen frozen that I can throw in the freezer.’”

Like other motorists, the society’s volunteers have also faced challenges getting around after snowfalls.

“The week before Christmas, we had to use my four-by-four to get into some areas to deliver Meals on Wheels,” Dodd said. “We just couldn’t get our regular, two-wheel-drive van or our volunteers’ cars into some of the areas.”

On service the society isn’t able to offer seniors is a “snow angel” service where volunteers clear snow from their sidewalks.

“There’s a huge liability issue there,” Dodd said. “You are dealing with the cold; you are dealing with the ice.”

The society normally refers seniors to a local company but has heard they’re booked solid. He encourages community members to remember seniors when they’re shoveling as seniors may not have the physical ability to do it themselves and become housebound.

“My plea would be, we have got to look after each other. Check in on your neighbours – make sure they are doing OK. Even if the snow is off the sidewalk in front of your building, it might not be half a block down, so somebody might feel housebound. Check in on your neighbour and say, ‘Hey Mrs. Smith, how is your food supply? Can I get anything for you?’”

Dodd said he’d heard a news report of a Richmond man in a wheelchair who was seen clearing the sidewalk in front of his building because the management company refused to do it.

“If we can’t look out for each other at this time of year, it’s kind of sad,” he said.