Larry Gies, Community Mental Health Association Job Developer; volunteer driver, Marcel Jacques; Josee Miljours, Coordinator of Volunteers for Meals on Wheels; and volunteer, Joe Wilson, stand by the Canadian Mental Health Association van which is used to transport about 100 meals daily from the Blezard Valley kitchen centre to two Sudbury Depots for delivery to the homes of clients.

The Trillium Depot Program is a project which has been funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and organized by Meals on Wheels in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association and one other community member. Under the program, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the community member share responsibility for making sure that prepared meals are hauled from Blezard Valley to the two depots in Sudbury, located at the Canadian Hearing Centre on Paris Street and at the Lasalle Blvd. location of Meals On Wheels. Once the large cargo is delivered, the volunteer drivers from the Canadian Mental Health Association continue with an individual route of their own.

The drivers are all members of the 3-C Centre in Sudbury, operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association. This is a psycho-social rehabilitation organization designed to assist people re-enter the workforce. The 3-C’s in the name stand for “Care, Concern, and Compassion” - appropriate for the mission they have undertaken.

With the partnership, volunteer drivers from the 3-C Centre handle the cartage duties for two weeks of the month, picking up empty coolers at the Sudbury depots early in the morning, replacing them with full coolers at 9:30 a.m. in Blezard Valley and then returning the meals to Sudbury in time for the volunteer drivers to make their deliveries to clients for lunch. The other two days per week are handled by another individual from the area who does the same routine. The program pays an honorarium to cover the costs of transporting the meals to Sudbury.

Meals on Wheels would like to extend an invitation to anyone else in  the community who feels they may be interested in taking part in this program. Call Josee at 525-4554 for more information.