MOW saves the day

HADDON – A cooked meal, bread and dessert is what the residents in Haddon get from Meals on Wheels on a Wednesday.

Forget about long queues that some of the people of the South went through on May 7 when they voted. This queue at 251 Rifle Range Road is a different one, people of all colours and age queued for the meal of the day.

Manager at MOW Kirsten Sutherland, assistant manager Eric Vermeulen and the staff helped to dish food for the people. “We have taken over from the beginning of May this year and we feed more than 500 people on Wednesdays. On other days we visit old age homes in the South and bring cooked meals to our senior citizens.

“Since we didn’t have any cutlery, we started from scratch to buy new ones. Though we get donations from City Deep, where all MOW get their food from, we are still in need for any kind donations from the public and businesses. There are lots of people who need our help,” she explained.

Before her MOW was headed by Drina Engelbrecht, National Director of Meals on Wheels South Africa and Michelle Wohlberg, who have since moved to the other premises according to Kirsten Sutherland. Previously it was Janet van Rooyen who has been with the organisation for many years. Janet left two years ago, because of ill health.

Kirsten said to control the flow of people they need identification (ID, pension card, certificate, etc.) from them. “We know others lie, however we are here to feed people and we deal with such incidents. We also urge people to bring containers for food,” she noted.

“We are happy about the food, it is good and it helps a lot since we have children to feed,” said Ntozabantu Qhewu. “God bless Meal on Wheels for this wonderful gesture,” said Krieg Zat.

Kirsten Sutherland also mentioned that people can also donate to: Meals on Wheels, Standard Bank, Southdale, Branch Code: 6405 and account number: 002770474.