Caring in this community comes in any language
Feeding the Community Spirit
By John Green
The volunteer visiting program of Caledon Meals on wheels began in 1988 and grew out of the meals program. As our delivery

Photo by John Green Anna Mazzola (left) and Rosaria Carbone enjoy each other's company during a recent visit.

drivers called at the clients' homes with the meals it became evident that some of the clients were lacking social contact. Many desired to visit for a while and discuss a variety of matters, some often of considerable concern to them.

Our volunteer drivers did their best to assist the clients but did not have time to stop for more than a few minutes. As the numbers of such clients with concerns increased it became evident that a serious need existed which had to be filled and so the volunteer visiting program was launched.

From the volunteer visiting grew the "telechat" program. In this case the volunteer visits the client over the telephone for friendly conversation during which the client can raise any concerns they may have. In addition, telephone contact can also provide a means of checking on the security and well being of the client. Often, when a family is away on vacation, they will ask us to arrange for a volunteer to call their elderly relative on an agreed schedule, either short or long term, to check upon their welfare. People caring for people.

The volunteer visiting program provides the volunteer with the greatest flexibility in the commitment of their time. Volunteers and clients are matched with mutual interests in mind and inhome visits or telephone contact are arranged to meet the convenience of both the client and the volunteer. In this way many lasting friendships have developed and the volunteer visitor often takes the client to appointments, shopping or to agency social functions. Also, clients themselves get involved in caring for others in return by calling one another and so the caring spreads, still more people caring for people.

Since Caledon Meals on Wheels was launched in 1984 the demographics of our town have changed and will, no doubt, continue to do so. This has meant that we often need volunteers that are fluent in another language in addition to English.

We are in need of new volunteers in all our programs and particularly in the volunteer visiting program. Please consider helping us and if you are competent in any language other than English you will be especially welcomed. We already have clients and volunteers paired where the mother tongue of each is other than English and we would like to tell you about two delightful people and although one is a client and the other a volunteer they really do, we are sure, care for each other.

Rosaria Carbone came to Canada in 1964 from Calabria in the Province of Cosanza in Italy. Some years ago Rosaria's husband

Gaetano started to attend the day program at the Davis centre and she would accompany him. Gaetano became a resident of the Davis Centre where he passed away two and a half years ago. Rosaria now attends the day program herself, Monday to Friday each week.

Anna Mazzola came to Canada in 1954 from the Province of Frosinone, near Rome in Italy. Anna is one of our volunteer visitors. For the past six years Anna has visited Rosaria every week either at her home on the weekend or during the week at the Davis Centre.

This writer met these two very charming women recently at the Davis Centre. Their deep friendship and their caring for each other was so strongly evident that it radiated around them for all to see. Here are two people, two lives immeasurably enriched. Such is the case with all our volunteer visitors and their clients who, like Rosaria and Anna, soon become the closest of friends.

Can you spare just a few hours a month to help us? Please consider becoming one of our volunteer visitors, it really is an enriching experience and we have an immediate need for volunteers in this program. If you have any questions about becoming a volunteer with us please call our office at 905-857-7651 or 905- 584-2992 and speak with our executive director Carol Kidd or e-mail Carol at info@caledonmealsonwheel s.org.

Also for more details of all our programs and volunteer opportunities please visit our Web site www.cmow.org. We are very proud of the design of our web site and the attractive way the information is presented to our visitors. Please come and visit us and a secure facility is now available for anyone wishing to make a donation. All donations are applied to services for our clients.