2023 Winner - The Rock & District Meals on Wheels

2023 Meals on Wheels NSW Innovation Awards

The third winner in this category is The Rock and District Meals on Wheels for their ‘Home Cooked Meals’ initiative.
After the success of cooking fresh home style quality meals from a shared kitchen for their popular Social Club, and further expansion of also offering home delivery of these meals locally, they were approached by concerned community members regarding the lack of these services in Henty.

The decision was made to trial a hot meal delivery service there 2 days a week, monitoring temperatures, which were successfully maintained with heated eskies plugged into delivery vehicles. The need for a Social Support Group in Henty was quickly identified, so another staff member was quickly recruited from their volunteer pool*, along with local volunteers, and a partnership with the local health service to cook and serve ‘on-site’ at Henty’s local community centre was established.

They now cook fresh three days a week, serving both hot delivered and centre-based meals, from two shared community kitchens in different towns.
As well as the enormous benefits of a hearty meal and socialisation for the clients (and volunteers) wellbeing, there is the added benefit of a reduced carbon footprint of the meals, as the ingredients are sourced locally, and packaging is reduced.