An award ceremony was held April 26, at Cedar Park United Church in Pointe Claire to present Brenda Murphy with the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers for her dedication to the community. She has served as the volunteer kitchen coordinator of Volunteer West Island’s Meals on Wheels program in Pointe-Claire for over 40 years.
Meals on Wheels (MOW) is a volunteer-driven program that promotes quality of life and breaks isolation by providing security checks and home-cooked, nutritious hot meals to home-bound or isolated seniors and to those with reduced autonomy.
The Pointe-Claire Meals on Wheels kitchen, located in Cedar Park Church, is one of 13 MOW kitchens operations across the West Island and the Borough of Lachine. MOW volunteers have been delivering food and smiles to hundreds of housebound clients in the community for 50 years. Last year 43,000 hot meals were distributed!
Among those present at the ceremony to honour Madame Murphy were representatives of three levels of government: Clifford Lincoln (former member of the Quebec National Assembly, provincial cabinet minister, and member of the House of Commons of Canada), MNA Greg Kelly, MP Francis Scarpellegia, and Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere. Volunteer West Island’s Executive Director, Lynda Barrett stated, “Brenda is an exceptional human being, motivated by a remarkable sense of responsibility towards her fellow-citizens and has contributed majorly to improved quality of life in our neighbourhoods”.
