Carrick-on-Suir Meals Service seeking funding from companies for kitchen improvements

Carrick-on-Suir Meals Assistance Services is raising €20,000 to upgrade the kitchen facilities at Carrickbeg Community Centre where it cooks meals five days a week for elderly people in the community.
The group says it needs to make some changes to ensure proper standards are followed with the fixtures works alone costing around €20,000.
“We will be applying for grants and seeking assistance from local multi-national companies to ensure that our funds are not drained and that we have a healthy balance to continue doing what we do,” explained Eddie Reade of Carrick-on-Suir Meals Assistance Services.
He reported that numbers using the service continues to grow in Carrick-on-Suir.
“When we restarted and rebranded the Meals Assistance programme, from the old Meals On Wheels, we had seven meals to deliver, three days a week.
“We now deliver between 40 and 45 meals daily, five days a week.
“It’s testimony to the quality of the fresh, nutritious, balanced meals that our volunteers work so hard to deliver,” he said.
He recalled that the town’s old Meals-on-Wheels service, which operated for more than 50 years worked out of the social services building in the town.
“We would have loved nothing more than to carry on the fantastic work carried out by them in the same building.“It would have been a fairly big undertaking to get the facilities up to the standards required by the HSE but it was a project that we felt would be worth completing.
“However, due to circumstances beyond our control, this opportunity did not afford itself to us, and we found ourselves purchasing hot meals to deliver to those in need.
“After a couple of years doing this, we were afforded the opportunity to use the community centre in Carrickbeg, thanks to the kindness of Sheila Power and Father Tom Flynn
“Sheila and Fr Tom made us feel more than welcome, and allowed us to operate away as we needed.”
He pointed out that when the Meals Assistance Services was granted full use of the centre’s kitchen for the foreseeable future a while back it eased a “massive headache” for the group.
“Now that we have a permanent home, we need to make some changes to the facilities, to ensure that proper standards are adhered to,” he added.
Meanwhile, Carrick Meals Assistance Group has qualified for the 2021 National Volunteers Awards final, which will take place in May. “Having already secured the award for best small group in Tipperary, we are over the moon to reach the final three in the nationals.
“If any business group wishes to support us in our efforts to furnish our kitchen, or assist us in any way please contact Debbie on (087)1809073.”
Mr Reade also invited anyone who wishes to avail of their meals service to contact either Debbie or him at (083) 3253337.