Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We come to this parliament, no matter what electorate we represent, no matter where our constituency resides, knowing that we represent communities who are supported by thousands of volunteers who work away, day in and day out, often far from the limelight and often receiving very little credit or recognition for the work that they do. The electorate of Adelaide that I have come here to represent is no different: we are fortunate to have a number of different community organisations with thousands of volunteers working day in and day out to help support our great community. I would like to highlight one of those organisations today, that being Meals on Wheels, for the hard work that they do in the Adelaide area.

In the electorate of Adelaide, that I am lucky enough to represent, we have seven different Meals on Wheels branches—one at Unley, one at Prospect, one at Norwood, one at Northfield, one at Kent Town, one at Hindmarsh and one at Enfield. I am lucky enough to have visited these branches or at times delivered meals with these branches and seen firsthand the hard work that they do and just how critical they are to supporting the elderly and the vulnerable in our community.

I would like to share with the parliament today something that I was lucky enough to be a part of when I was privileged to be with the Enfield Meals on Wheels branch as they presented the one-millionth meal that they have delivered in the community. In celebrating this achievement we made the presentation to a very valued client and volunteer, Mrs Stella Donald. I will say a couple of words about Stella and why she got to be the one-millionth recipient of a meal through Meals on Wheels in Enfield. Stella had until recently been a very special volunteer with that branch and a very active member of our community. She is loved and cherished by many. She was chosen as the recipient of the one-millionth meal because of her commitment not just to Meals on Wheels at Enfield but to our local community as a whole. She started volunteering in December 1968 and continued volunteering with Enfield Meals on Wheels for over 30 years. It was only because of a broken hip through an unfortunate accident in 2009 that Stella was no longer able to help out in the kitchen and volunteer her time, but it was fitting that she then started receiving meals on wheels. I know that the volunteers at that branch were only too happy to repay some of the hard work which Stella had done over such a long period of time.

At all of the seven branches in the electorate of Adelaide and, more broadly, in all of the Meals on Wheels branches across Australia, there are amazing volunteers who are working in administration and in the kitchens, who are delivering meals and who are talking to and counselling some of the most vulnerable members of our community through their personal contact as Meals on Wheels deliverers each and every day. I would like to thank them all. (Time expired)