Meal service dropped for seniors in rural areas around Moncton

Laura Flight · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 16, 2025 11:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Earlier this month, Joan McMackin received a enactment with the repast that was delivered to her doorway arsenic usual.

"Reminder: Please enactment this is your past repast delivery," the enactment said.

For astir a year, the 87-year-old widow successful Petitcodiac received five meals a week from the United Way seniors' repast program.

For respective years, the United Way Centraid, which serves Greater Moncton and Southeastern New Brunswick, has offered a repast transportation work for seniors successful Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.

Two years agone with the assistance of a national grant, the work expanded to see surrounding agrarian communities. The assistance was to past 2 years only.

No mentation from United Way

Now the 2 years are up, and Brent McMackin, Joan's son, is saddened by the quality his parent won't beryllium capable to person well-balanced meals passim the week. 

"You could astir accidental it was life-changing, you know, due to the fact that it made it truthful easy," said McMackin, who is semi-retired. 

United Way declined an interrogation petition and just confirmed successful a connection that the aviator task was over.

"We admit the ongoing request successful outlying communities and are actively exploring caller backing opportunities to grow the work country successful the future." 

According to a societal media station from January 2025, the United Way successful Moncton was delivering astir 3,000 meals a week, offering 5 to 10 meals a week to each recipient successful need. It wasn't wide however galore of the recipients lived successful agrarian areas.

McMackin and his parent some unrecorded successful Petitcodiac, astir 40 kilometres from Moncton. The prepared and frozen meals were delivered from Moncton to Joan's location erstwhile a week. 

Joan is incapable to navigator for herself consistently passim the week. While her lad checks successful connected her everyday, it becomes challenging to marque and present meals to her connected a regular basis. 

McMackin's precocious father-in-law was besides a recipient of the repast transportation service. For him, it was adjacent much indispensable because, arsenic a widower and a elder with constricted carnal capabilities, helium was incapable to hole his ain food. 

"As for a batch of elder individuals, it's hard for them to hole and to wage for a balanced diet," 
McMackin said. 

The meals that Joan received outgo her up to $2 each, her lad said. For seniors needing affordable repast services, the programme was an fantabulous option, helium said.

The announcement United Way sent to recipients said that each seniors receiving the meals would beryllium added to the waiting database for the provincial seniors' repast program.

Seniors successful agrarian areas deficiency access

Without the programme to service meals to seniors successful agrarian areas, much seniors could extremity up successful hospital, said sociologist Katharine Dunbar of Mount Allison University, who focuses connected wellness inequities

Dunbar said that repast transportation services are indispensable to agrarian communities due to the fact that they support the wellness and well-being of older residents. 

Since agrarian areas person little entree to wellness services, ensuring nutritious and accordant meals for them is simply a portion of keeping them healthy. 

Dunbar speculated that the United Way simply couldn't support up with the demand.

"Community organizations and assemblage services thin to benignant of enactment to capable those gaps that are near arsenic a effect of not having capable backing done the provincial oregon territorial government," Dunbar said. 

• More ovum crockery sandwiches! United Way expands repast programme for debased income seniors

"There's less organizations moving successful agrarian areas. And truthful what you often find is that 1 enactment is providing a full assortment of services to members of the community." 

Without the repast work reaching agrarian communities similar Peticodiac, McMackin hopes to find a imperishable solution for his mother.

"I deliberation it was a invaluable program," helium said. "And it tin beryllium provided astatine a tenable cost. And I deliberation that's astir apt already been proven that it should continue."