History

Meals on Wheels Moreton Bay Region was created in mid 2021 when four services, namely Pine Rivers and District, Burpengary, Caboolture, and Bribie Island, and one auxiliary service, the Samford distribution centre, were merged into one entity. The Meals on Wheels Queensland board had developed a plan to future proof and a key pillar was the merging and amalgamation of smaller services into regionally based entities. It was agreed that smaller, volunteer led services would not be sustainable into the future as the administrative and compliance burden imposed by funding and regulatory entities increased. It became apparent that developing stronger and more sustainable services was at the crux of continuing delivery of food and social contact to the most disadvantaged individuals in our community.

The new entity faced many challenges. As well as normal tasks integral to an amalgamation project, the bulk of the merge occurred when the whole world was suffering under the impacts of the Covid 19 Pandemic, and it is arguable that the aged and disability sectors were impacted disproportionally. Impacts included the loss of volunteers, many of whom are themselves older and vulnerable, the enforcement of new, restrictive regimes such as masks, isolation procedures and so forth, and the fact that many of our customers were even more isolated from family and friends than prior to the pandemic. Never before had ethos of ‘more than just a meal’ become so relevant.