On Wednesday the 10th of November, Meals on Wheels SA held its second Regional Workshop for the year at the Glenelg Golf Club.
Hosted by General Manager Service Operations, Julie Bonnici and attended by approximately 50 volunteers, as well as key staff members, the workshop explored how Meals on Wheels SA can support branches with managing COVID-19 and increased growth and demand, as well as updating volunteers on current and upcoming projects.
Innovation Projects Manager, Mark Kearns who is now temporarily overseeing the Production Facility, and Senior Branch Support Officer, Kevin Cunnigham provided an update on the meal supply and frozen meals being prepared at Hilton, as well as timelines and future changes to the summer and dessert menus.
Executive Manager Corporate Services, David Smith ran through the ways in which Meals on Wheels communicates with its volunteers, including via the Freshdesk platform, emails, text messages, posted letters and the monthly Branch Bulletin.
Julie Bonnici explained the impending challenges of COVID-19 returning to South Australia and how branches can be supported to ensure continual service delivery. With mandatory vaccination directions now extended to in-home and community aged and disability workers, there was plenty to cover about how Meals on Wheels will support both a safe and healthy workforce and broader community.
Julie also highlighted the Committee and Volunteer Handbooks as valuable resources for volunteers and explained the initiatives helping improve stakeholder engagement.
After a delicious lunch, the workshop facilitated roundtable discussions focusing on the significant difference of Meals on Wheels to other food service providers, how customer feedback is managed and actioned, pressure points at branch level and volunteer induction and on-boarding processes. This also allowed volunteers to provide insight into what is working and what can be improved, with suggestions and feedback tabled to be discussed further.
Overwhelming feedback suggested attendees found the opportunity to discuss issues and potential solutions to fellow volunteers and staff members most helpful, and many volunteers encouraged others to join the next one.
Volunteer, Jeanne attended the workshop and represented the Ardrossan branch, 150 kilometres from the Adelaide CBD.
“I found today very interesting, especially when comparing country to city branches,” she said.
We’d like to thank all who made this Regional Workshop possible and those who travelled from near and far to attend.
