Driving Toward Independence - Meals on Wheels London, Ontario

Driving Toward
Independence
January 2012
A Newsletter for Friends of Meals on Wheels London
Put On Your Walking Shoes—Walk for Wheels March 30, 2012 2-4 pm
Once again, we’ll be downtown at the Covent Garden Market walking to raise money for Meals on Wheels
London’s client subsidy program—helping clients who have low incomes afford the cost of their meals. We expect
100 walkers, and hope to raise $20, 000. Please join us. Our youngest participant Adam, age one (who came to
our walk last year) is now trying to walk unaided. By March 30th, he may be setting the pace! If it’s your first
time, don’t hesitate to pop in and say hi. There will be coffee, tea or a cold beverage waiting for you provided by
The Little Red Roaster and The Tea Haus.
Excitement is in the air—gift certificates, gift baskets, and other wonderful items are being donated for our walk to
be used as prizes and silent auction items. Some of the items that you will see at our walk include:
We Have Tickets and Certificates (valued over $4000!)
Fleetwood Country Cruize-in: 4 tickets to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, 4 tickets to Paul Revere and the
Raiders dinner show, plus 8 car show passes at the Plunkett Estate / Aroma Mediterranean Restaurant / Petrocan
gas cards from Chelsey Park Retirement Community / Costco / Downtown Dollars / Elmhurst Sunday Brunch/
Elmira Stove Works / Fleetway Bowling for 5 / Handford’s Tire and Service / Has Beans / Jack Astor’s /
Marienbad Restaurant / McDonald’s / McGinnis Restaurant and Bar / Melrose Bakery / Nash Jewellers /
Orchestra London / Palasad Party for 8 / Port Stanley Festival Theatre / Remark / Richmond Retirement Village
dinner for 4 / RiverBend golf for 4 / Robertson Consulting—career transition or retirement lifestyle planning /
Tetherwood Spa / The Grand Theatre
Gifts, Baskets and more...
3M Canada / Anderson Flowers / Avon / Bill Brady stained glass / Bonnie Parkinson Art / Boxwoods / Grand
Wood Park / IMPARK / Jersey Lovey scarf / Kingsmills / Klas Squared jewellery/ Shoppers Home Health /
Silpada jewellery / Starbucks / The Crochet Club of London / The Top Shop / Westmount Mall
Thank You to our Sponsors
102.3 BOB FM / BMO Nesbitt Burns / Cool Runners / DeKay Construction / Donohue Funeral Home / Forest
Lawn Memorial Gardens / Investors Group / James A Harris Funeral Home / Jones Packaging / Libro Financial
Services / MacLean Spinney Investment Group / Nature’s Healthy Balance / OE Canada / Old Oak Properties /
Oxford Dodge Chrysler Jeep / Royal Canadian Legion Byron Springbank Branch / Senior Homecare by Angels /
Toyota Town / Tricar Development Inc.
thou
Personal
Delivery—Nutritious Meals—Door-to-Door Transportation Service —Here When You Need Us
sand
356 Queens Avenue, London Ontario N6B 1X6 Phone 519-660-1430 Fax 519-433-1167 www.meals-on-wheels.ca
MEALS
ON
WHEELS LONDON
Lucille McClure, 40 Years of Service
The Meatles Live Performance
Pancake Breakfast for United Way
Cherryhill Wellness Fair
Clockwise from top left: Lucille attended the October Volunteer Recognition Event where 260 volunteers
gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of 2011. We were most excited to honour Lucille for 40 years of
volunteer service. She thanked Meals on Wheels and said “I’d do it all over again”.
Also at the recognition event was a live performance by the Meatles. Beatles songs were re-worked with meal
and transportation lyrics and performed by staff willing to spoof this famous singing group.
The annual Wellness Fair at Cherryhill Village Mall, held in September, was well attended by members of the
community who came out to see what services are available. Our booth was visited by many folks interested in
taking home a price list and menu. Call our office if you would like a menu package mailed out (519-660-1430).
Service Support Coordinator, Jo-Anne Doxtator (pictured above making pancakes) along with Volunteer
Manager, Laura Christie organized many activities for staff to raise money for the annual United Way
Campaign. Events such as the Halloween lunch, pancake breakfast, silent auction, and also the employee
payroll contribution program resulted in a total of $1,843 raised by staff.
I N M E M O RY O F . . .
The following were honored with donations made in their memory: Dr. Earl Russell, Ruth Carroll,
George Barron, Joe Wonch, Ruth Greenway, Ron Fliss, Elizabeth Jones, Vernon Bowman, Bill Hedley,
Michael Reynolds, Mary Patricia Gray, Lloyd Spencer, Ron Windsor, Ted Froats, Milton Poier,
Peter Christie, Bill Hedley, Katarina Rosenbohm, William Rosenbohm, Jack Bryon, Elizabeth Bryon,
Muriel Podmore, Surrey McNabb, Cela Sloan, Harold J. Patterson, Mildred Bruce, Don May,
Fred Etcher, Frank Gregory, Aleksis Dreimanis, Anita Dreimanis, Norma Slade, Al Boyd.
INDEPENDENCE
IS W H AT W E ’ R E D R IV I N G AT !
Gift Bags and Baskets
Chair Massage at break time—Fundraiser
Delivering in the Rain
Christmas Day Meal Delivery
Clockwise from top left: Our board room was filled with bags and baskets from AMICA at London, London Hydro
and Grand Wood Park ready for Christmas deliveries to our clients. From a client: ”What a thoughtful, wonderful
surprise when you delivered the meal, treats and cards of good wishes. I had such fun looking at everything”.
Last year we spent most of December shovelling snow, and delivering meals was slow going. This year, we dealt
with more rainy days. Pictured above, our volunteer Bjarne helped to deliver some of the 1,700 frozen meals that
were delivered to clients on December 22, 2011.
The De Abreu family woke up on Christmas morning and got ready to come to Meals on Wheels for meal delivery.
One of our recent compliments was from a client regarding this family and the children who sang Christmas carols
while at the door. Now that’s service with a smile!
Stan Davis, from “Going with the Flow” donated his corporate chair massage service to a silent auction held at the
Meals on Wheels office. Monies raised went to United Way and staff who bid on the item, got to enjoy a 15 minute
chair massage on their break during the work day. www.goingwiththeflow.ca
Meals on Wheels London Board of Directors
Weekly Frozen Meals
President: Leigh Folliott Vice President: Kevin Barry
Treasurer: Christian Bullas Secretary: Ron Olson
Members: Eric Beriault, Shannon Bain, Hugh John Cook, Samira El-Hindi
Mark Okonski, Ginny Poon, Dean Radloff, Gail Stark
Daily Fresh Meals
Take Time to Review and Count Your Blessings
January 2012
January is the time of year when I take a moment to go through some of those beautiful Christmas and New Years
cards (at home and at work) and enjoy the read through once again. It’s so easy to get caught up in reacting to the
hustle and bustle of every day life, and quickly pass by the special moments, good deeds and kind words that come
our way.
I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of those wonderful things that come quietly to me, often with a
note or phone call of thanks, along with a donation to Meals on Wheels London.
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Memorial donations top my list of thoughtful acts. Please help celebrate and honour individuals by reading
through the list of memorial donations on the centre page of this newsletter. Over the past few months,
donations were made in memory of over 30 special people. We also had a memorial pet donation.
Phone conversation with a client (also a donor) who told me that “every drive with a volunteer is like meeting
a new friend.” This good feeling is what prompted the donation.
Tribute gifts received : in celebration of parent in-law’s birthdays, in honour of mother in-law at Christmas
time, celebration of a dear friend celebrating his 100th birthday, thankful for son and daughter-in-law and also
daughter and her family, in honour of parents.
Phone call with someone who said it is easier for her to send a donation than to volunteer and make deliveries.
“I have friends that have used your service and I might need it myself someday.”
Personal delivery to our office from parents and two teenage children. Father and Grandfather received meals
and they just wanted to thank us with a donation.
Christmas donations made by a family who held a “Feats of Skill Challenge”. The winning team chose Meals
on Wheels London as the charity of their choice. Great way to add meaning to the holidays!
Knights of Columbus Brother Andre Council #8339 paid for the cost of Christmas Day meals. This has been
their gift to our clients since the early 1980’s.
Thank you cards have been plentiful from our clients. This is because gifts for clients were received in
December from a number of organizations: Gift baskets by AMICA Helping Hands, stockings from Grand
Wood Park, hand-crafted place mats from the London Friendship Quilters Guild, gift bags from London
Hydro employees, crafts from Brownie and Guide groups, art work, candy canes and pet treats from
individual donors, decorations from the Crochet Club of London and also from the students at Banting.
Two staff, their families and 14 volunteer meal delivery “elves” delivered gifts and turkey meals to 99 clients
December 25th.
These are just a sampling of happenings—a few little gems that I wanted to share from the past few weeks. Thank
you for supporting Meals on Wheels London in your own way over the past year.
Happy New Year everyone!
Christine Poier , Development Manager
356 Queens Avenue, London Ontario N6B 1X6 Phone 519-660-1430 Fax 519-433-1167 www.meals-on-wheels.ca