High fuel prices and the increasing cost of food could see the Grey Bruce Meals on Wheels program be forced on a diet.
Executive Director of Home and Community Support Services for Grey Bruce, Andy Underwood says its only a matter of time before their food suppliers will be forced to pass on higher prices.
He says they have a number of suppliers in Grey Bruce and many of them are small restaurants operating on very tight margins and they simply don’t have the resources to absorb the higher costs of food and fuel.
He says once that happens then the Meals on Wheels program will have no choice but to increase the price it charges to deliver hot nutritious meals to its clients.
Underwood says their greatest fear is that some people on fixed incomes no longer will be able to afford the service if they are forced to increase the price of a delivered meal.
He says they are reluctant to change suppliers to some of the large institutional food service companies because the quality of the product is no match to the home cooked meals they now provide to their clients.
He says so far the volunteer drivers have been able to withstand the higher cost of fuel, but he does not know how much longer they can absorb the high cost of gasoline.
Underwood says the Grey Bruce Meals on Wheels Program is one of the largest in Canada supplying more than 55-thousand meals to area residents every year.
He says the Grey Bruce program is larger than the one in the City of Calgary if you actually look at the number of meals delivered.
Already the high cost of food and fuel has resulted in the city of Victoria cancelling its Meals on Wheels program
