Featured image: Volunteer duo Anna Quiggley and Rob Good have delivered 8072 meals to 1994 homes in the Lancefield and Romsey areas for the past three years, driving more than 8600 kilometres and spending 470 hours on the road.
SINCE the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteer duo Anna Quiggley and Rob Good have delivered 8072 free meals to the community through the Lancefield Romsey Community Support Project.
A joint initiative between the Romsey and Lancefield neighbourhood houses, the project has taken Ms Quiggley and Mr Good, accompanied by Charlie the dog, to visit 1994 homes through which they have seen smiles, gratitude, happiness, tears, misery, despair and hope.
Romsey Neighbourhood House manager Michelle Balthazar said their service was invaluable for the members of the community who were in need.
“When COVID hit, that’s when we ignited this community support initiative as we were concerned there would be people who were isolated in the community that couldn’t get out at the time,” she said.
“Their ability to volunteer throughout the three-year time period to support people by enabling them to access food from home has given people who have been isolated since COVID the opportunity to engage with someone.
“They were able to check in, have a cuppa and just do a bit of a wellbeing check on individuals in the community.”
The pair have engaged with some of the most vulnerable members of the community, while the initiative was supported by the volunteer cooking team at the Romsey Neighbourhood House – who have produced more than 10,000 free meals.
“They’ve been an incredible dynamic duo, bringing lots of laughs and joy to the people they deliver to. Charlie the dog has also been an important part of the program,” Ms Balthazar said.
“It’s meant that we’ve discovered a lot more people, particularly the elderly, who were living on two-minute noodles and Cup-A-Soup, so to be able to get nutritious frozen meals to them has been amazing.
“We just thank them for their dedication, for delivering this service over the last three years.”
While the service is coming to an end due to lack of funding, people in need can still access food and frozen meals from the Romsey Community Foodshare, from 10am to 2pm on Wednesday to Friday. For more information, call 5429 6724.
Alternatively, people can visit the Lancefield Foodshare, open 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 1pm on Saturday. Call 5429 1214 for more details.
