James Bay New Horizons: Anne’s Story

November 8, 2022 / by United Way

Anne is a recent widow who is an enthusiastic recipient of United Way’s More Than Meals program delivered by the James Bay New Horizons. She has been finding that cooking for one has had it’s challenges for a variety of reasons.

“ When you have been married for a long, long time, 60 years, it’s very difficult to find your rhythm on your own, says Anne.

United Way’s More than Meals program is making a positive impact in the lives of seniors. Healthy meals are delivered weekly to people’s homes along with critically important social visits.

“I know now that I am going to get a decent meal and I’m not going to hit the peanut butter jar again,”

she says with a smile. “I pay what I can afford. If I was to have to buy all the ingredients to make up these meals it would knock my grocery budget quite a lot higher.”

For Anne, who is also a volunteer board member at James Bay New Horizons, the More Than Meals program offers invaluable nutritional and emotional support to many seniors living in the James Bay neighbourhood. “Very often as you get older you are sitting home alone and that’s not good.”

Many seniors on southern Vancouver Island experience extreme loneliness and isolation, malnutrition or food insecurity, mobility issues and limited income that greatly impacts their physical, mental and emotional well-being. To date, More Than Meals has grown from delivering 200 meals a week to 50,000.