Hundreds of Calgarians depend on Meals on Wheel every day to bring them nutritious food that’s been prepared for them.
To make that happen, the organization depends heavily on volunteers to deliver that food.
Meals on Wheels is marking its fiftieth anniversary in Calgary this year, and while volunteers come and go, one has been constant 45 of those 50 years.
Anne Pawelek started volunteering with Meals on Wheels back in 1970.
She has a regular route now, making sure the meals get to those who need them, but Anne says that wasn’t the case more than four decades ago “when I first started we could go anywhere, you know they would send me anywhere in the city but it became more structured and we would do the same route, the same people, and that helped a lot.”
Anne isn’t the only family member who’s been volunteering with Meals on Wheels for 45 years.
Anne’s daughter Mary Jane was very young when she started helping with deliveries “then after we finished our deliveries, I’d go off to kindergarten because I was still school age, so then I’d go off to kindergarten. That’s just what I really remember, delivering with mom, going to the different apartments, different places, and then going to kindergarten.”
Today Mary Jane is a nurse but remains committed to helping her mother deliver meals.
Modern technology has changed the way things are done at Meals on Wheels.
Thanks to the new kitchen, meals are now prepared two days in advance and they’re delivered cold instead of hot.
One thing that hasn’t changed though is the need for volunteers.
Executive Director Janice Curtis has great appreciation for what Anne has done for the organization, “she’s served on boards, she’s served on committees here, and you know the loyalty and the passion she has for the organization is just wonderful.”
For all she’s done to bring meals to Calgarians who need them, Anne Pawelek is this week’s Inspiring Albertan.
For more information on Meals on Wheels click HERE:
