Caledon Meals on Wheels hires new Executive Director

Kim Rodrigues wants to make sure seniors and vulnerable community members are well taken care of

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A Caledon non-profit that provides fresh meals and much more to seniors and vulnerable community members has a new leader.

Kim Rodrigues became the Executive Director of Caledon Meals on Wheels (CMOW) late last year.

Rodrigues has spent her entire professional career in the non-profit world. She's worked in the developmental services sector, supporting and working with families who have a loved one with autism. She's also worked with individuals who are medically fragile and have a developmental disability. Another role saw Rodrigues working in victim services with children and youth. 

“All my career has been in the service [sector] which is something that I'm very passionate about,” said Rodrigues. “It's really what gets me up in the morning.”

Rodrigues said she feels very fortunate to have landed at CMOW, and said she received a warm welcome from staff and volunteers in the organization.

“The collective work we're doing is supporting and directly impacting the individuals we're working with,” said Rodrigues.

CMOW has 12 staff members, a volunteer Board of Directors, and about 100 volunteers carrying out its work. What it's best known for is delivering hot and frozen meals to seniors and vulnerable people in the community. 

Rodrigues said what some people don't know is CMOW also offers seniors social and wellness programs, a friendly visit service, and wellness checks. 

“Social connectedness is really important for our seniors… it has a huge impact on their mental health,” she said. 

Volunteers are a vital part of CMOW, and Rodrigues said most meal deliveries and social connections are done by them. She said CMOW is always looking for more volunteers, especially for its friendly visiting program, which has a waitlist. This program sees a volunteer go for a one-on-one social visit with a senior who may be isolated or unable to make it out to CMOW's group programs.

“They still need and deserve that social connection with somebody,” said Rodrigues.

She said anyone interested in volunteering with CMOW can visit cmow.org to learn more.

“We have lots of opportunities for volunteers… it could be in our friendly visiting program, it could be in seniors social wellness, it can be meals delivery,” said Rodrigues. “There's also opportunities to volunteer on our board, or even within the office… lots of opportunities for anybody that is interested and wants to give back to the community.”

Rodrigues said she's passionate about caring for seniors because they've contributed to society for so long. 

“We need to turn around and take care of them,” she said. “That's not the time they need to be worrying about where their next meal is coming from.”

There are many in the community who are very dependent on the meals CMOW provides, said Rodrigues. For some, they almost exclusively rely on CMOW meals. In addition to its hot meals, CMOW provides frozen meals to clients so they can be saved for later.

There's a small cost for CMOW's meals; however, the non-profit is able to subsidize meals for those in need, using a sliding scale to ensure that anyone who needs meals is not getting turned away. Money raised from CMOW fundraising campaigns is often used to help subsidize meals for those in need.

Rodrigues said the demand for subsidized meals is higher than ever, and CMOW is trying its best to support everyone.

“We're so dependent on fundraising to be able to make sure that everybody has access to fresh and nutritious meals,” she said. “It's heartbreaking to think we have seniors in our community struggling to not only make ends meet but have themselves fed.”

Fundraising is going to be a bigger focus for CMOW in 2024, said Rodrigues, as the organization works to meet the increased demand it is facing.

Some of CMOW's fundraisers include its “Match our Meals” and “Smile Cookie” campaigns, which it does in partnership with local Tim Hortons restaurants, and its “Grand Parade” fundraising walk held in the summer.

“These are pivotal and really important fundraising opportunities for us,” said Rodrigues.

When CMOW delivers meals, it also does a security check to see if the person it's delivering meals to is healthy and well. Rodrigues shared that even in the last week, a volunteer helped a senior out of a scary situation. 

When the volunteer was delivering a meal to a senior, the senior did not answer the door as expected. The volunteer alerted the senior's contact that CMOW had on file, and the police then did a security check on the senior (CMOW volunteers never enter a residence uninvited). It turns out the senior had fallen and hadn't been able to get up for over 24 hours. Thanks to CMOW checking in, the senior was able to get help before the situation got any worse than it already was.

“We're there (at someone's residence) typically two or three times a week, so we get a sense of what's normal for them,” said Rodrigues. “Sometimes even if someone doesn't seem well, we'll contact their loved one and have them do a more in-depth check in with them.”

Rodrigues said CMOW cares greatly about the wellbeing of those it serves, and she believes strongly in the value of the non-profit's security check service. 

Moving forward, Rodrigues said she'd like to find CMOW a home where its office and kitchen space can be in one building. Being able to have space for social wellness programming on site would also be a plus, she added.