By purchasing brightly decorated cookies, residents can help ensure seniors and people with disabilities in Northumberland County have hot meals on their tables.
On Friday (March 1), Community Care Northumberland (CCN) is launching an Easter cookie fundraiser to support its Meals on Wheels program.
The fundraiser is an important one for CCN, says Leiann Peart, director of client services at CCN.
“Every dollar raised through the Easter cookie fundraising event goes toward providing nutritious and affordable meals to seniors living alone, adults with disabilities who are unable to shop for groceries or cook for themselves, and those being discharged from hospitals with limited or no help available during their recovery,” Peart told kawarthaNOW.
“Every single purchase will make a difference to the lives of those that benefit from this program,” she said. “Ideally, we would love to raise $7,000 to assist us in providing this valuable service to those who benefit from this program.”
The fundraiser ties into National Nutrition Month, which is the month of March, and March for Meals, an annual campaign to increase awareness and community engagement around the significance of the Meals on Wheels program.
Community members can purchase a box or more of cookies. Each $20 box contains five individually wrapped, decorated Easter cookies from Roda’s Kitchen in Cobourg, with $8 from each box sold directly supporting the Meals on Wheels program.
As mentioned by Peart, the initiative provides essential frozen and hot meal deliveries to clients throughout Northumberland County.
CCN delivers approximately 3,000 meals a month to residents in Northumberland.
In addition to the cookie fundraiser, local mayors, volunteers, and other community members will join CCN for the 27th anniversary of March for Meals and demonstrate their support as “community champions” by delivering meals to clients.
“The cookie fundraiser and March for Meals initiative are essential components in meeting the nutritional requirements of our clients and community, simultaneously amplifying awareness about this invaluable program,” said Trish Baird, CCN CEO, in a media release. “We express our gratitude to everyone for their unwavering support.”
Cookie orders can be placed between March 1 and 18 on the Community Care Northumberland website at commcare.ca.
Those who purchase cookies can pick them up on March 27 and 28 from local CCN offices in Brighton, Campbellford and Cobourg.
CCN’s Meals on Wheels program provides healthy and affordable meal options, the organization noted. Northumberland clients can choose hot meals, which are prepared locally and delivered several times per week at noon, and/or can choose to receive frozen meals, which are easy to prepare and cater to several diets.
Meals are delivered by CCN volunteers or staff members directly to the client’s door. In 2022-23, CCN’s Meals on Wheels program delivered 40,421 meals to 636 clients in the county.
