I was pleased for the opportunity to contribute to celebrating and promoting this incredible organization that delivers an incomparable and inconceivable service to the Ottawa community to the benefit of more than 250 citizens every day. The difference this makes for seniors, people with disabilities, and others who have difficulty leaving their home impacts more than just those individuals. It is better for our community as a whole when people have choices that reduce the need for institutions and allows people more time and a longer time to remain in their own homes as our neighbours and friends.

1. Presentation to Meals on Wheels Ottawa Annual General Meeting
June 17, 2015
AN ORGANIZATION THAT DELIVERS
GREAT MEALS AND SO MUCH MORE:
PROVIDING OPTIONS THAT CHANGE LIVES
Keenan Wellar
Co-Leader & Director of Communications
LiveWorkPlay.ca

2. LiveWorkPlay
1995-2015
Engines of Success
Celebrating 20 years of
helping the community
welcome people with
intellectual disabilities
to live, work, and play
as valued citizens.

3. Thank you for including me in this Annual General Meeting and before I start I
just want to say that delivering more than 250 hot meals a day – which we all
know is only a part of what Meals on Wheels Ottawa contributes to our
community – is a remarkable achievement. This organization does not get nearly
enough recognition considering how much of a difference it makes in the lives of
people in this community. So while I appreciate the invitation to talk about
LiveWorkPlay, I want to do so for the purpose of showcasing some of the features
of Meals on Wheels Ottawa as I have experienced as a representative of a
partner agency and from my own personal experience.
Two weeks ago I was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the LiveWorkPlay
organization which my wife Julie Kingstone and I co-founded back in 1995, and
more of less by accident it became a career starting in 1997, and some 18 years
later we now have a staff of 15 and about 150 volunteers supporting about 100
people with intellectual disabilities and their families. A lot of what we
celebrated on June 4 was not so much the internal progress of the organization
but rather the community-building and benefits to the community as a whole
derived from being neighbours, co-workers, classmates, and teammates. In other
words, when we think and act more inclusively, it is better for everyone.

5. We also celebrated key partnerships, with a particular emphasis on those
organizations where we have a longstanding relationship. Meals on Wheels Ottawa
was chosen as one of three for formal recognition, representing a group of about 50
organizations that were eligible for the award. This was not a difficult choice, because
back in 1998, thanks in part to a tip from Lucas Rogers who was already a Meals on
Wheels volunteer and became part of LiveWorkPlay after that relationship was
already in place, we found a willing partner in Meals on Wheels Ottawa.
Initially, we had staff members as drivers and the young people we were supporting
as servers. Over time our operations changed and we moved away from having
individuals come to our centre and instead we began offering individualized supports
based in people’s own neighbourhoods. The challenge there was we’d need to
continue the Meals on Wheels partnership differently – could the individuals
involved with LiveWorkPlay be matched up with drivers from the general Meals on
Wheels volunteer pool instead of with LiveWorkPlay staff was the question, and the
answer was YES they can! This has been the arrangement for more than 5 years now.
I want to point out that I am also speaking here today as a former delivery driver
myself, and I’m proudly wearing my 500 and 1000 and 1500 hours of service pins.
Here is a little flashback to one of my favourite days.

6. Sometime In The Winter Of 2008

8. And so in conclusion, I want to pay tribute to Meals on Wheels not simply as a
remarkable operation that delivers consistent quality meal service to seniors, those
with chronic illness, people with disabilities, or people with medical needs or other
reasons that make Meals on Wheels the right answer for them, but because Meals on
Wheels is also part of the bigger social benefit of helping keep our community strong
by supporting people who want to say in their homes with options other than
institutional solutions.
Meals on Wheels provides part of the answer to the questions raised about how people
who are less able to care for themselves than in the past will remain in their homes,
and the peace of mind provided by the remarkable quality of service from the Meals on
Wheels team of dedicated staff and volunteers is of such great value there are no
words to describe. Thank you for all that you do and I look forward to the day when my
schedule permits me the time to return to active duty.