WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jewish community’s kosher Meals on Wheels program is facing a deficit as it struggles to keep up with a 50 per cent increase in demand over the past year.

Avery Spigelman loads kosher meals at the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre for delivery. [Myron Love photo]

“The program is in financial trouble,” said Marilyn Regiec, executive director of the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre, which prepares the meals and arranges delivery five days a week.

“We are projecting a $25,000 deficit for the program come our April year end.”

Regiec said the problem stems from rising food costs and increased demand. The number of meals going out now works out to 12,000 a year, compared to 8,000 just a few months ago.

“Each meal – consisting of soup, bread, an entrée and dessert – costs us $10.50 to prepare,” Regiec said. Until recently, the centre had been charging recipients $6.20 for each meal.

“We just raised the price by $1,” she said, noting that in Montreal the rate is $7.50, while the Vancouver and Ottawa Jewish communities charge in the $9 to $10 range.

She noted that the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg contributes $2 toward the cost of each meal, but only up to a limit of 8,000 meals a year.

“This is supposed to be a community program, not just a Gwen Secter program,” Regiec added. “We are operating the program because the community requested us to run it.”

She said that she and two of her Gwen Secter board members met on Jan. 21 with federation president Jonathan Kroft and David Kroft, chair of the federation’s allocations committee.

“They came here and we showed them our facility and what we do,” Regiec said.

“We gave them facts and figures. It was enlightening to them. They weren’t aware of what we do here, what the kosher Meals on Wheels program was about and how we do it.”

Commenting on the situation, Jonathan Kroft said: “We are very proud of the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre and the work they do. The kosher Meals on Wheels program meets an important need in our community. We understand the need for increased support. We are working hard with the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre to find a way to sustain this service for all the people who benefit from it.

“In these times, delivery of services can be particularly challenging. We are confident that we will find a way to deal with this issue.”

Faye Rosenberg Cohen, the federation’s director of planning, added that “everyone agrees that the kosher Meals on Wheels program is a key component in reducing the isolation for Jewish seniors. We all want to see it thrive.”

Rosenberg Cohen said the jump in demand seems to have coincided with the closing of the Omnitsky Fine Foods, Winnipeg’s last kosher butcher shop, about a year ago.

“I think the increase in demand has come because a lot of people who want to keep kosher either can’t cook on their own or can’t afford to buy kosher meat,” Regiec said. “They appreciate that we offer fresh, homemade meals. Also, more people are choosing to stay in their homes rather than move to nursing homes.”

The program could also use more volunteer drivers to deliver meals, said Shirley Murray, manager of volunteer services for Meals on Wheels Winnipeg Inc. Currently, there are nine drivers serving north end clients and another nine delivering in the south end. Murray said the program could use another 10 volunteer drivers.

“The kosher Meals on Wheels program is a very important component of Jewish life in Winnipeg,” Regiec said. “Its loss would be devastating to the elderly and incapacitated members of our community. For some of our clients, this is one of their few life lines to our Jewish way of life.”