[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_margin=”|-100px||-100px” custom_padding=”0px||”][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”One woman\u2019s food-fueled goal to foster friendship” text_orientation=”center” header_fullscreen=”on” header_scroll_down=”on” background_overlay_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.33)” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ title_font=”|700||on|||||” title_font_size=”50px” title_letter_spacing=”2px” content_font_size=”20px” background_image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/foodforott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/6da01dd6-ff89-4117-a3a6-4077a1b6077f.jpeg” custom_padding=”100px|50px|100px|50px”]<\/p>\n
By Devon Platana
Nov. 16,2018<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”45.5312px|0px|0|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_width_px=”500px” custom_padding=”22.75px|0px|3px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”||||||||” max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”0px||”]<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 8:30 a.m. on a Wednesday and the day\u2019s clientele are being dropped off at Ottawa West Community Support \u2014 a community centre on Wellington Street. Elderly men and women with dementia, speech impairments and physical disabilities that put them in wheelchairs file in.<\/p>\n
The lobby fills with clients who may not have seen each other since the previous week, with conversations consisting of the upcoming snowstorm to the Ottawa Redblacks upcoming playoff game. Down the lengthy corridor from the lobby and removed from the conversations, Marlyn McNeely continues her early day in the kitchen after storing away freshly baked pies and cookies. She\u2019s already been preparing today\u2019s meals for the last half an hour, with more cooking and baking to be done.<\/p>\n
McNeely herself has lived in the neighbourhood for over 70 years, but you wouldn\u2019t know it by how quickly she moves pastries around the kitchen or by her cheerful attitude as she greets anyone and everyone who walks into the kitchen.
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a pretty busy day today,\u201d McNeely says smiling behind her apron, defiant of any stress.<\/p>\n
While some clients live alone, there are some who live with family members who aren\u2019t able to take care of them during the day. This leads to them attending the day program at Ottawa West Community Support, where they are taken care of by the staff and fed by McNeely.<\/p>\n
McNeely looks down the corridor to the group of clients gathering, and remarks that while food isn\u2019t the main reason people come to Ottawa West Community Support, \u201cfood is a connecting thing that brings people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ottawa West Community Support is one of the few organizations that seniors can go to in Hintonburg as the area becomes more gentrified and geared towards younger families. McNeely sees this change and wants to make sure seniors do not feel isolated and forgotten.<\/p>\n
For that reason alone, she shows up to Ottawa West Community Support with the goal of filling stomachs and putting smiles on faces. Most of the staff is younger than McNeely, but even after coming out of retirement 18 years ago, she feels young enough to make a difference in the lives of each client she feeds.<\/p>\n
McNeely\u2019s meals are bringing lonely seniors in the area together, breaking down social barriers and uniting in similar situations. According to her, there aren\u2019t a lot of accessible activities for seniors to enjoy in Hintonburg and that something as small as a place to share meals is integral.<\/p>\n
The meals remind McNeely of when she was younger and how dinners served as social gatherings for herself and her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the women [both volunteers and some clients] like to do the dishes because that\u2019s how we got our news back in the day,\u201d McNeely says, looking out the window.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, she says, the men would smoke cigars while they washed.<\/p>\n
Today the men at the community centre have traded their cigars for playing cards, music, and regular conversation.<\/p>\n
Many of those who come to Ottawa West Community Support are isolated in their daily lives because they are either impaired by a disability or live far away from family members.<\/p>\n
Most of the program\u2019s seniors are from Hintonburg-Mechanicsville, where 51 per cent of seniors live alone. That is 25 per cent more than the average community in Ottawa, according to Ottawa Neighbourhood Study, a research tool developed by members of Statistics Canada and Ottawa Public Health.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/foodforott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/PHOTO-2018-11-23-13-17-56.jpg” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center”][et_pb_row use_custom_width=”on” width_unit=”off” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”-25px||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n
When McNeely retired in 2000, her main concern was taking care of her mother. It was at this moment when she realized there was a need to help seniors in Hintonburg.<\/p>\n
A year later, her mother passed away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen my mother passed on, I thought that I better do something,\u201d McNeely says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when I started with homecare.\u201d<\/p>\n
McNeely has spent her entire life in Hintonburg, which is one of the main reasons why she works in the Ottawa West Community Support kitchen.<\/p>\n
She attended Connaught Public School, Devonshire Public School, and Fisher Park High School all while growing up in the house that her grandfather built in the early 1900s. If one thing is evident, it\u2019s that McNeely is extremely proud of her family, especially as she brags how her father and grandfather have built extremely durable homes during their lifetimes.<\/p>\n
Even if she\u2019s only there three days a week, McNeely\u2019s work is felt by many.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarlyn\u2019s got a heart of gold, and the clients love and appreciate her,\u201d says Amy Bevilacqua, the senior manager of operations and programs, who has been working at Ottawa Community Support for the last 15 years.<\/p>\n
Bevilacqua describes McNeely as a \u201chuge asset\u201d to the program. She says that, while her food is a good starting point, what makes McNeely beloved is her relatability.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the clients react differently to her than they would if a 20-year-old was taking care of them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe similarities in age mean she comes across more as a friend more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
McNeely loves to talk to the seniors, whether they\u2019re people she\u2019s never met or those that she\u2019s known for awhile.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the clients here was actually someone that graduated in the same year as me from Fisher Park. I didn\u2019t know them then, but now he lives a street over from me,\u201d McNeely says.<\/p>\n
The demand for McNeely\u2019s warmth and kindness earned a paid position where she worked six days a week.
\u201cI almost feel guilty about being paid to do what I love,\u201d McNeely says with a blush.<\/p>\n
Today she comes in from Monday to Wednesday to help cook and distribute food.<\/p>\n
One thing that excites McNeely about cooking at Ottawa West Community Support is ever-changing menu.
\u201cThe menu varies, and we often get to make things that none of us got to eat growing up, like spaghetti and pizza,\u201d McNeely explains with child-like joy. \u201cIt\u2019s such a treat!\u201d<\/p>\n
While some seniors have a tough time eating food that they aren\u2019t used it, some of them come around just to enjoy trying something new.<\/p>\n
For the last 15 years, a lot of the food that is cooked and prepared is provided by Peter Seltenreich and TimeSaver Foods, a service in Ottawa committed to selling easy meals to those who need it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are such great people and wonderful support to the community,\u201d Seltenreich says about McNeely and her co-workers.<\/p>\n
Most of the food stays at the centre, but some of what McNeely makes is sent to clients on the outskirts of Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Ottawa West Community Support used to send food only to people as far as Woodroffe Avenue, but now meals are reaching those as far as Fitzroy Harbour.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething as small as a meal or even a phone call makes their day, and helps them feel more social,\u201d McNeely says as she gets up from her seat to finish setting the table for today\u2019s lunch \u2014 a surprise that she wasn\u2019t willing to reveal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be pie and cookies, though,\u201d McNeely assures with a smirk as she disappears into the sea of familiar faces who may need her help and\u2014more importantly\u2014 a friend.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” module_alignment=”right”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.17.6″]