Meals-on-Wheels

Meals-on-Wheels and community meals or Lunchs Clubs are services for seniors offered by volunteers.

Meals-on-Wheels volunteers deliver hot meals to clients needing support services so they can continue to live in their own home.

Lunch Clubs or community meals services, often accompanied by socio-cultural activities, cater to seniors with greater mobility.

Meal-on-Wheels is an excellent example of collaboration between government services and community organizations.  Clients are referred primarily by CLSCs or by doctors or other professionals who can evaluate client needs.

Payments from clients cover the cost of food purchase and constitute the main source of funding for Meals-on-Wheels.  Donations from service clubs, local merchants or other organizations or individuals, as well as local fundraising activities, allow the majority of groups to be financially independent.  A small "Aid to groups" budget, administered by the VBM's Volunteer Food Services Central Committee, is available for special needs such as start-up expenses, equipment purchase or repairs.

The Volunteer Bureau of Montreal's Volunteer Food Services Central Office is funded by the community support program of the Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal, a division of the Quebec health and social services department.