Sutherland Meals on Wheels provides an essential service to our community delivering meals to 250, mainly elderly, people. However, with only 111 drivers in the area, the service has an immediate shortfall of 30 volunteers to cover existing shifts.
An ageing population will put more demand on the service
We all know the pressure that our ageing population will put on essential services over the next few years and Meals on Wheels is no exception. The service estimates that the number of clients using the service will double over the next three years. However, the ageing population will also affect their volunteer workforce.
Meals on Wheels expects to lose half of the current volunteer drivers to either retirement or poor health over the next few years, so Meals on Wheels is now calling on more volunteers to take up the challenge of continuing to provide this essential service to the community.
More than home delivery
More than 60 per cent of Meals on Wheels’ clients are aged between 70 and 90 years, with around 75 per cent living alone – that’s why Meals on Wheels is so much more than a home delivery service.
For many clients, their Meals on Wheels volunteer may be the only person they see that day or that week, and it gives them a boost to see a friendly face at the door.
According to Sutherland Food Services manager Peter Ince, Meals on Wheels volunteers also get a boost, feeling as though they have made a difference at the end of the week when they go home.
What makes a Meals on Wheels volunteer?
Peter Ince said shift workers, the self-employed, stay at home mums and part time workers make ideal volunteers. He also encourages local clubs and businesses to become involved, highlighting the experience as a great team building exercise.
How and when you volunteer is up to you. Volunteers can nominate the days and frequency of their availability.
If the cost of petrol is the only thing holding you back from volunteering it’s handy to note that all drivers are given petrol cards during their shifts to cover their costs.
For more information
Meals on Wheels operates on weekdays only.
For more information about becoming a Meals on Wheels volunteer, please phone 9540 7365 between 8am and 3pm.
Have your say. Click here-> Dialysis Unit boost for Sutherland Hospital
Sutherland Hospital is to receive a 12-chair dialysis unit as part of the State Government’s $14 million commitment to expand renal services in NSW.
Demand for dialysis grows at a rate of 5 per cent per year and dialysis machines are the only means of survival for people with end-stage kidney disease who do not, or will not, receive an organ transplant, according to Health Minister Reba Meagher.
Diabetes is a leading cause of kidney disease and an increase in diabetes in the community is linked to the increasing obesity crisis.
Sutherland is one of six hospitals to receive the expanded renal services.
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Cronulla Public simply the best
Cronulla Public School received the Most Outstanding School Award at the Sydney Region Awards, held earlier this month.
According to Principal Vicki Basford, the award reinforced the fact that the school’s programs and practices underpinned all the departmental core values and that their creative arts program promoted harmony amongst its students.
The school focuses on improving student outcomes through quality teaching and learning. As part of an applied approach to learning, the school ran an interactive program, Cineliteracy Project, in which kindergarten students became involved in the writing and making of short films, with the aim of improving literacy and technology skills.
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Councillors vote No to rezoning
Recommendations for rezoning for Sylvania and Menai were vetoed at the last council meeting.
The recommendations were amendments to the Sutherland Local Environment Plan 2006 and had been requested by state government agencies as part of the approval process.
Some of the overruled recommendations were the rezoning of a parcel of land at Sylvania from zone 12/special uses, to zone 4/local housing and land at Menai from zone 5(c)/ special uses, to zone 4/local housing.
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Sydney Water and Council in neighbourly battle
Sydney Water and Sutherland Shire Council appear to be heading in different directions as one encourages neighbours to dob each other in, while the other encourages neighbours to nominate each other for good deeds.
New figures released from Sydney Water show that the Sutherland Shire received the second highest number of infringements for water misuse last year. A total of 139 infringement notices were issued to Shire residents in 2006, following 833 reports received for breaching water restrictions.
The ”Dob in a Neighbour” policy has seen Sydney Water accused of turning neighbours against each other, a sentiment backed by Sutherland Shire Mayor, David Redmond.
However, Sydney Water refutes the suggestion that they are turning neighbours against each other, stating the community has been supportive of the restrictions and that the number of reports from the public has remained constant over time. They further justify the current policy by saying that the public reports help them make better use of their resources, allowing them to deploy scheduled and random patrols 24/7.
However, the Sutherland Shire council feels that while we should all be doing our best to save water, the community would be better served by communicating with our neighbours and highlighting our concerns about potential water restriction breaches, rather than just jumping in and reporting them to Sydney Water.
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Dean loves living in the Sutherland Shire. In fact he was born, raised and schooled in the Shire and currently lives with his
young family at Engadine. In his younger days he was an accomplished sportsperson and is still actively involved in local amateur
sports administration. Dean operates his own business in the area and is keen to support and promote the wider community in any
way he can with his new role. | 
