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No 2009:140:
Doomed to Extinction? The Nature and Future of Volunteering for Meals-on-Wheels Services
Ciara O’Dwyer
and
Virpi Timonen
Additional contact information
Ciara O’Dwyer: Trinity College, Postal: Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre, School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Virpi Timonen: Trinity College, Postal: Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre, School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Abstract: Meals-on-wheels services in Ireland and elsewhere rely heavily on volunteers to operate. Meals-on-wheels services that draw extensively on volunteers’ contributions both benefit from and augment social capital within communities. Based on interviews with voluntary and paid meals-on-wheels coordinators and staff carried out in early 2007, this article examines: (1) the recruitment and retention of volunteers; (2) motivations for volunteering; (3) the nature of the contributions of volunteers; and, (4) the future role of volunteering within the service. The article argues that volunteerism in meals provision for older adults in Ireland is in crisis. The recruitment and retention of volunteers may be improved if service providers gain a better understanding of the motivations of volunteers and develop strategies to ensure that volunteers have an opportunity to engage in work that corresponds to their original motivations, which includes enhancing the social capital of their communities.
Keywords: Meals-on-wheels; Nonprofit services; Decline of volunteerism; Ireland
Language: English
14 pages, 2009
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