Have you heard the news? Combined Home Services is here …. a service designed to help you remain independently in your own home. Proudly supported by Meals on Wheels Central Coast, Combined Home Services will help take the stress out of everyday life.

Recently launched, Combined Home Services is another way that Meals on Wheels Central Coast is making residents in our community’s lives easier.  Combined Home Services offers a wide range of in-home services, including meal delivery and social support, housekeeping, removal services and lawn maintenance, physiotherapy and IT assistance. Available to anyone on the NSW Central Coast, their services are delivered by local professionals who are all experts in their industries.

By making just one phone call to Combined Home Services head office, clients can organise a call out to their home, with the service providers offering special rates for these customers.  Designed to help clients’ live happy healthy independent lives in their homes, Combined Home Services offers a complete solution for all home needs.  Call Combined Home Services on 4357 8478 and organise a quote today!

Take a look and like their Facebook page!

 

What a wonderful night our 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner was on Wednesday 30 August!  Here’s a few pictorial memories from the night.

We have been incredibly lucky to have some wonderful support for our 50th celebrations.

We would like to thank  everyone who contributed to our 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner last week. To our sponsors and attendees alike, you made this night an extremely special one, and your support is appreciated. The room looked stunning (thanks Spark*d Events & Marketing Communications), the auctions were great fun (thanks Jack at McLachlan Partners , the music was amazing (Thanks Tom & Nico and Jellybean Jam) and the company …… well the company was absolutely wonderful. Here’s a little teaser from the night, with more photos to come soon.

 

 

It’s an extremely special thing when you celebrate your 50 year Anniversary and you can honour a volunteer who has been there since the beginning.  Congratulations Viv, we are so grateful for your wonderful contribution over the past 50 years.

Since its early beginnings in Umina in 1967, Meals on Wheels Central Coast has provided a much needed community service to the population of the Central Coast.  Commencing as a hot meal service, Meals on Wheels Central Coast has evolved to deliver convenient and nutritious frozen meals, as well as provide social support and Community Restaurants.

This year marks Meals on Wheels Central Coast’s 50^th year of service to the local community. Every month, around 15,000 meals are delivered by some 350 volunteers to local elderly and people with disabilities, offering them not only a nourishing feed but also social interaction, a helping hand and safety and wellness checks. Additionally, the service provides over 1,000 hours of direct social support each month through its various other community programs.

To celebrate this milestone in Meals on Wheels Central Coast’s history, the organisation will be holding a 50^th Anniversary Gala Dinner to help raise money to keep these essential services to the Community operating in future years.

The black tie Gala Dinner, to be held at Crowne Plaza Terrigal on Wednesday 30 August, coincides with National Meals on Wheels Day.  The dinner is an opportunity for local business and community members to support this important Central Coast institution.

Tickets are being sold to this important event, with entertainment and an auction part of the celebrations.  Local businesses are also being encouraged to either provide sponsorship or donate goods and services to the Gala Dinner, to assist the fundraising process.

Mr Dennis Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Meals on Wheels Central Coast said “Our service makes it possible for our clients to remain living healthily and independently in their own homes where they are happiest.   The service also gives older people and their loved ones much-needed peace of mind and delays or eliminates altogether the need for more costly home-based or residential aged care.

“We would love to see local business involved in our 50^th celebrations.  It’s encouraging that some organisations have already provided  $500 Silver Sponsorships, and these, along with donated items for our auction, and Priority Business Lawyers generous Gold Sponsorship of $2,500, will certainly help make this event a huge success. Proceeds raised on the evening will enable us to continue serving the Central Coast for years to come.”

Ticket prices for the Black Tie Gala Dinner are $120pp. Tax deductable Gold and Silver Sponsorship packages are available, along with Auction Prize and Corporate Table Sponsorship.

For more information about Meals on Wheels Central Coasts 50^th Anniversary Gala Dinner, contact Pip Wilson on 02 4357 8424 or pip@ccmow.com.au.

Say hello to Winter, our first Meals on Wheels for Furry Friends delivery recipient. The Furry Friends initiative sees Meals on Wheels partnering with Central Coast business East Coast Dogs, to deliver nutritious, affordable pet food to elderly pet owners across the Coast.  Delivered by Meals on Wheels friendly volunteers at no cost, pet owners will also get the chance to interact and gain a helping hand with pet feeding if needed.

Winter’s owner Karen has recently become a client of Meals on Wheels Central Coast and has been so impressed she thought she’d try it for this special member of her family. Both dogs and cats are catered for in this service tailor made for Meals on Wheels clients, with only raw and natural ingredients used in all the pet food products.

Meals on Wheels for Furry Friends is bound to be a great success on the Coast, if Winter’s reaction is anything to go by. Pictured here with Karen’s son Glenn, Winter was eager to discover the new food available to him, giving it the ‘paw of approval’.

Meals on Wheels for Furry Friends is bound to bring relief to many Central Coast residents, who have wanted to give their ‘best friends’ healthy meals but have lacked the ability to go out and source them. Thanks to a generous grant from Family and Community Services, Meals on Wheels for Furry Friends is expected to assist around 150 local seniors and their pets, with dogs and cats of all sizes catered for.

For more information, or to request a Pet food menu, please contact Meals on Wheels Central Coast on 4357 8444 or email admin@ccmow.com.au

On Monday 13 March, the Minister for Ageing, The Honourable Tanya Davies, paid a visit to Meals on Wheels Central Coast’s Tuggerah hub to present the organisation with a generous grant towards its Meals on Wheels for Furry Friends project. The project will be launched this coming May and will help to alleviate some of the financial and physical burdens of pet ownership for Central Coast seniors.

Meals on Wheels for Furry Friends will involve the delivery of affordable, nutritious pet food to elderly pet-owners from across the region by Meals on Wheels’ friendly volunteers. Not only is delivery free, but volunteers will take time to talk with pet owners to ensure they and their pets are doing well, and provide support and a helping-hand with pet feeding if needed.

“There are so many proven benefits of pet ownership for older people, including reduced isolation and improved health outcomes; however, the ongoing and necessary costs and physical burdens of pet ownership, particularly the costs and burdens of feeding pets, can be prohibitive for many seniors,” said Meals on Wheels Central Coast’s Marketing Manager, Lisa Colquhoun.

“Saving older people from having to haul kilos of costly pet food from the grocery store back to their homes will make it much easier for them to keep their furry friends,” said Ms Colquhoun.

To deliver the project, Meals on Wheels Central Coast has teamed up with Central Coast-based pet food manufacturers East Coast Dogs – Raw & Fresh, who produce a complete balanced diet for both cats and dogs using only raw and natural ingredients.

“We are so excited to get behind this great initiative to make sure elderly people in our community are able to give their pets top quality, nutritious food without the hefty price tag,” said East Coast Dogs’ Owner and Operator, Scott Botham.

With comparable projects having great success in both the USA and United Kingdom, Meals on Wheels Central Coast and East Coast Dogs are confident that ‘Meals on Wheels for Furry Friends’ will enjoy similar success on the Central Coast, with potential for the project to be replicated by other Meals on Wheels groups across NSW.

Meals on Wheels for Furry Friends is expected to assist over 150 local seniors and their pets following the May launch. For more information or to register your interest in the project, please contact Meals on Wheels Central Coast on (02) 4357 8444 or email admin@ccmow.com.au.

Two of the Central Coasts most trusted local organisations partner to deliver the most extensive home care solution for seniors on the coast. Meals on Wheels (MOWCC) and Home Instead Senior Care (HISC) are combining resources to offer Central Coast seniors access to unparalleled resources to remain living in their homes happily, healthily and independently.

MOWCC and HISC have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to offer a unique combined service of meals and in-home care services to Central Coast seniors, commencing from Feb 2017.

The existing clients of both services total 900 on the Central Coast, based from as far south as Patonga, west to Mooney Mooney and to the north of lower Lake Macquarie.

Ron Thomsen, Chair of Meals on Wheels Central Coast, said that he welcomed the relationship with HISC, which is entirely client directed to add value to the Meals On Wheels service theme of ‘more than just a meal’. “We want to offer to our clients professional in home care, by trained CAREGivers from a recognised quality organisation. HISC is a proven in home care service on the Central Coast, and we believe the adding of our iconic brand for additional meal provision and socialisation services, with Home Instead’s excellent services will prove of much benefit to our combined clients, and potential new ones,” said Ron. 

The combined field forces of the two organisations offer Central Coast seniors and their families unparalleled access to home visits by trusted CAREGivers and volunteers. HISC has 75 CAREGivers, and is expanding all the time whilst MOWCC boasts an army of over 400 meal delivery and social support volunteers. This not only gives families peace of mind knowing their loved ones have regular quality care, socialisation and nutrition it also represents a sizeable market presence on the Central Coast for both organisations.

Recently recognised in the community in receiving the Central Coast Business Excellence Awards and Best In Home Care service in the Central Coast Aged Care & Disability Achievement Awards 2016, HISC seeks to bring meaningful change to the aged care sector, making it more accessible for seniors and enabling them to remain living independently in their community.

Jasmine Hopcraft, Owner Director of Home Instead Senior Care Gosford said that the relationship with MOWCC is very exciting and, combined with the aged care reforms to launch Feb 2017, will give HISC the opportunity to help more seniors access quality home care, nutrition, and companionship. “Sadly, too often we see seniors who are lonely, isolated and not eating enough or nutritiously. With our trusted CAREGivers and local 24hours 7days support HISC offers a large variety of in home services, advocacy and advice, which expand as our clients needs dictate, we specialise in dementia services and tailoring in home care solutions,” said Jasmine.

MOWCC also seeks, with its meal deliveries, community restaurants and social support programs, to enhance people’s lives, rather than just delivering single services – this aspect is the key driver for both MOWCC and HISC in this new relationship.

It is expected that the combined 500 people power of the partnership of the two local organisations will have a major impact on the Aged and Disability client sector on the Central Coast for quality cost-effective and efficient service delivery.