Image source, Meals on Wheels JerseyImage caption, The service delivers meals to about 100 people, four days a week
ByChloe ParkmanChannel Islands- Published26 minutes ago
A delivery service offering meals to people in need has spoken about the challenges of recruiting new volunteers due to rising fuel costs.
Maureen Bougeard said Meals on Wheels Jersey had received £38,000 from the Jersey Community Foundation to fund work supplying hot meals to islanders who are unable to prepare meals themselves.
She said the service packed and delivered meals to about 100 people, four days a week - but added fuel costs were having an impact.
"Very often volunteers say, you know, 'the petrol's getting expensive'," she said. "We're looking for new volunteers and I send the information out which says 'you drive your car at your own expense' and I don't hear from them again."
The secretary said the organisation had more than 200 volunteers.
"Our complete organisation is run by volunteers," Bougeard said. "We don't have any paid staff at all."
Bougeard said some of the voluntary meal delivery drivers drove the length of the island twice in a day, adding most volunteers were retired people.
"I'm not saying everyone has a poor pension, not everyone is on the basic pension, but some are and they still manage to come and volunteer, which is absolutely fabulous," she said.
The service said people who receive the meals currently pay a cost price of £5.
It said the grant from Jersey Community Foundation covered the charge to the government of Jersey's health and community services, which supply and facilitate the preparation of the meals. The service said the grant had been offered for 2026 and 2027.
Meals on Wheels said it hoped to renegotiate the service level agreement with the government to allow it to continue.
Follow BBC Jersey on X, external and Facebook, external. Send your story ideas to [email protected], external.
Related topics
Meals service providing food and a friendly face
- Published17 February 2025
Sharp rise in men volunteering across Jersey
- Published31 December 2025
Rising fuel prices 'cost tow truck business £10k'
- Published4 days ago
