2022 is a very special year in Ballyroan as it celebrates 50 years of Volunteering in the area. Volunteering came about by one woman in the area – Roisin O’Looney identifying a need in this young growing district whereby people needed help in their homes. Many were recovering after illness and coping with young children with husbands away on business, elderly people housebound requiring meals, or other people needing visitations. So, Roisin set up with the help of about 25 ladies who attended the first meeting – the Voluntary Social Workers Corps.
The Corps were non-sectarian, and each Volunteer offered 1 hour per week, stating their preferred time and type of voluntary work. A rota was set up to cover home help, with the service to operate on a reciprocal basis.
Volunteer work involved preparing meals, laundry and ironing, transport to/from hospitals, cleaning, and social visits for a friendly chat. The meals on wheels were initially cooked by members of the Corps and delivered. As numbers increased the Mercy Nuns in Ballyroan cooked the meals in their convent kitchen and the meals were delivered by volunteers. When Ballyroan Community Centre opened in 1981 – which included a kitchen – this was where the meals were cooked by teams of volunteer cooks and delivered by volunteer drivers. The updated Community Centre in 2010 included a state of the art kitchen for volunteers where meals are currently prepared.
As the years passed and things changed it is the Meals on Wheels that has continued within the area, and over the 50 years many, many volunteers help to continue the service. Sadly during the 2 years of Covid volunteering was suspended, with the Meals on Wheels cooking and delivery undertaken by the staff of Ballyroan Community & Youth Centre. However, now we are returning to better times, volunteers are returning.
Volunteers have been the mainstay of the Meals on Wheels operation as they have given so many hours of their valuable time to make sure that clients are fed, and volunteer drivers provide a welcome chat at the door. Such has been the success of volunteering in Ballyroan that there is hardly a family who has not had someone who has been involved in helping out and we are now into a second generation of Volunteers. The Volunteers have over the years been very loyal to the service of Meals on Wheels and many have created strong friendships and a definite strong community spirit. We are so grateful to all those Volunteers – past and present who stepped up to the call which was started by the insight of one exceptional woman: Roisin O’Looney.
