As supermarket shelves empty in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, many elderly people in the Newcastle area are relying on the care organisation Meals on Wheels to help put food on their table.
Catherine Gavin, the coordinator of Morisset Meals on Wheels, said some of the branch's 93 clients in south-western Lake Macquarie had been ordering extra meals, as they hadn't been able to buy some ingredients in the stores to cook for themselves.
"They're getting meals through us, they're topping up," said Mrs Gavin.
The Morisset branch is one of nine that is part of Newcastle Meals on Wheels, with 400 volunteers caring for about 1000 clients.
General manager of Newcastle Meals on Wheels Damien Isaacs said stringent hygiene procedures were in place to protect both clients and the volunteers from coronavirus. For example, government guidelines were being followed, and volunteers used a sanitiser after each delivery.
Catherine Gavin explained that as part of social distancing, food could be left at a doorstep by one of the Morisset branch's 40 or so volunteers, who could then wait and ensure the client safely collected their meals.
"Our clients will get fed, no matter what," Mrs Gavin said.
So far, Newcastle Meals on Wheels had not encountered problems accessing ingredients to cook up to 5000 meals each week.
But Mr Isaacs said the organisation had been working on contingency plans to ensure food supplies, and for branches to help each other out to ensure the meals kept coming in the region, if volunteers contracted the virus.
"We're preparing every contingency we can," Mr Isaacs said.
"So many of our volunteers want to find ways to keep serving the elderly people out there.
"That's our aim, goal and commitment; we can't imagine not getting the food delivered."
The service is about to deliver more than food. Supermarket giant Woolworths has donated toilet paper, so, according to Mr Isaacs, each of Newcastle Meals on Wheel's clients will be given a four-roll pack, probably by the end of the week.
"That should allay a little bit of the fears out there," he said.
Damien Isaacs said overall the service's clients had been "doing marvellously".
"The generation I'm looking after have experienced a lot tougher things than we ever have," he said. "It's us, younger generations, who are going a bit wonky."
He said many clients' attitude was, "If it's time to knuckle down and eat less and use less toilet paper, then I've done that before."
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