Meals on Wheels is more than a meal delivery service. Across NSW, dedicated volunteers provide clients with nutritious food, a friendly chat, and vital wellness checks. For many people, Meals on Wheels volunteers are the only point of contact they have all day, a human connection that offers reassurance, safety, and dignity.
For more than 25 years, Bev has been one of those essential people.
Bev lives in the Parramatta area and began volunteering after leaving her job in motel management due to injury. She originally considered becoming a hospital nanny, but a last‑minute change of heart led her to reach out to City of Parramatta to enquire about volunteer opportunities. They told her about their food services program with Meals on Wheels.
She showed up the following Monday and never stopped.
(Image supplied by City of Parramatta) Bev has been a volunteer with Meals on Wheels for more than 25 years
Bev is known among fellow volunteers and staff as deeply kind‑hearted, always ready for a friendly conversation, and someone who instinctively looks out for others. Her dedication to her role as a volunteer means she consistently shares feedback and suggestions to better support the people she delivers meals to.
Volunteering has also given Bev an unexpected gift: connection.
“I consider all the people I have volunteered with as friends,” she says. “They became a part of my life, even if only for a short time. On a monthly basis, I catch up with some volunteers who have left the service.”
Over time, she says, volunteers often become part of the clients’ extended families.
“Not that you ask to be, they just feel comfortable enough to share their personal stories with you,” she reflects. “The men are usually the ones that open up if they’ve lost their wife. I would spend all day talking to people if I could.”
Volunteering is the outlet for caring work that Bev wanted.
“Volunteering allows you to become humble as a person,” she says. “Listening to people’s stories and concerns is a privilege and something I hold close to my heart.”
Meals on Wheels volunteers work can make a life‑changing difference.
(Image supplied by City of Parramatta) Bev and volunteer Sandra transport meals
On one delivery run, Bev arrived to find a client not answering the door. Concerned something wasn’t right, she noticed the door was unlocked, called out, and found the client lying on the floor after a fall. Bev and her driver called emergency services, stayed with her, and notified the Meals on Wheels office.
Later, the client explained she had no family, and without that welfare check, the outcome could have been devastating.
Moments like this demonstrate why Meals on Wheels volunteers never leave meals at the door.
Bev sums it up.
“It’s more than a warm meal, it’s showing people that they matter.”
Meals on Wheels is contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals 3 Good Health and Wellbeing and 10 Reduced Inequalities.
