Free food from pubs and a club shutting down their kitchens, a flood of new volunteers and the gift of more than 5500 toilet paper rolls has made a Dubbo service provider which treasures its elderly clients see the bright side of a pandemic.
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Meals on Wheels Dubbo service manager Peter English is convinced that "good" can come from adversity.
Since the coronavirus, called COVID-19, brought sickness and death to Australia, he has been fielding generous offers of help for a clientele experiencing anxiety.
No offer has been turned away with a view to reducing suffering.
"We are more than just a meal," Mr English said.
"We are in the management of anxiety at the moment and it's only small things like toilet paper and some of the basics in life that can help with the reduction of anxiety in the elderly."
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Hence, a donation from Woolworths of toilet paper for every Meals on Wheels client in NSW has been gladly received.
Mr English said more than 5500 toilet paper rolls were distributed to about 1000 clients in the Orana region.
"That's a tremendous contribution," he said before taking a gentle swipe at hoarders.
"There's a lot of anguish out there and it's just unfortunate some people are probably making it difficult for the elderly to access some of the basic needs in life."
In contrast, many members of the community were seeking to give back.
"In the last couple of days we've been given fruit and vegetables from a club and pubs that are shutting their kitchens," Mr English said earlier this week.
He named the Garden Hotel, the Macquarie Inn and Club Dubbo as benefactors which had donated hundreds of dollars worth of food.
Scott's Parts Plus had also loaned Meals on Wheels Dubbo a cooler to store the donations.
Mr English is gobsmacked at the response to a call for help after existing volunteers, considered more vulnerable to COVID-19 because if their age and health conditions, rightly "stepped back".
"We've probably had more offers from the community to volunteer over the last three days than probably the last three months," he said.
Dubbo Regional Council staff are among the willing and able.
"The council called up here yesterday and said 'listen let us know if you are running short on volunteers, we can fill one run or the whole seven runs for Dubbo'," Mr English said.
The service manager will continue to welcome new volunteers because "tomorrow's another day", particularly in a pandemic.