Eileen Bray from Dunedin shares her Bellyful volunteering story for National Volunteer Week 2022.
I went to visit my daughter after her third baby in Auckland. Sadly they ended up in NICU for a couple of weeks and then went home on Oxygen 24/7 . Bellyful provided meals for them.
I hadn’t heard of Bellyful before that. When I was returning to Dunedin, an old school friend met me at the airport. She apologised for smelling of onions as she had just been preparing them for Bellyful meals.
This prompted me to see if there was a branch in Dunedin. And yes there was. So I started going to meetings, Cookathons and doing deliveries. I attended the Regional Day in February 2021. In August 2021 I took over the role of Delivery Coordinator.
I love that I am working with an amazing group of women that never hesitate to accept delivery requests and that the Cookathon team will do a second cook if we are running short. As our criteria has widened we have had a huge demand for meals this year and unfortunately, our cupboard has been bare a couple of times.
It feels good to help new mums who are time-poor and families that are struggling. I have great respect for Bellyful volunteers.
