Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. Introduction

Management of the pilot program

Funding

Recruitment of volunteers

Attendance

  1. Survey Methodology

DINERS’ SURVEY

Demographics

Survey Results

Frequency and reasons for attending the Community Lunch

Importance of the Community Lunch

Participants expectations of the Community Lunch

Volunteers

Quality and variety of meals

What did the participants enjoy?

What can be improved?

VOLUNTEERS’ SURVEY

Demographics

Survey results

Training

Volunteers expectations

Volunteers’ satisfaction with the Community Lunch

Community Lunch as a useful exercise for volunteers

What worked well?

How can the Community Lunch be improved?

What other equipment or resources would make it easier to prepare or serve the lunches?

  1. Discussion

Current status

Future management

Recruitment of volunteers

Attendance

  1. Conclusions
  2. Recommendations

Executive Summary

Discussions between the Port Fairy Community House, the Port Fairy-Belfast Lions Club, the Port Fairy Rotary Club and the Uniting Church, Moyne Shire and Moyne Health resulted in informal partnershipsto develop a pilot Community Lunch program.

In September 2016, the pilot program was instigated to be delivered on a weekly basis, with each partner responsible one month at a time. Because of the convenience of location and facilities, it was agreed that the Port Fairy Community House would be the initial venue for the pilot program. However, alternative venues were to be considered should the Community Lunch continue after the pilot.

The Community Lunch was available for anyone to attend, but there was an emphasis for people who for various reasons are unable to engage in various community activities and facilities. A range of marketing strategies were use and FoodShare in Warrnambool agreed to provide food as possible if the meals were provided free of charge, although donations from the diners was acceptable. Additional funding was sought for equipment and any additional food required. It was agreed that where possible a three-course meal would be provided, especially during the colder months, consisting of a soup, main course and dessert.

After running for 13 weeks, Port Fairy Community Lunch diners and volunteers were asked to participate in an anonymous survey to help evaluate the effectiveness of the lunch program and identify areas for improvement. The survey included questions about the client’s most recent experience. Diners were asked questions about their interaction with staff, the quality of the meals, the social experience and to give an overall summary of their experience. Volunteers were asked questions on operational issues and to provide suggestions for improvements.

A total of 15 responses were received from the diners and a total of 16 responses were received from the volunteers, representing 19% of diners. The results of the diners’ survey supported the aim of the pilot Community Lunch program, they reported key benefit of attending was the opportunity to socialize with other people. Diners suggested improvements including providing some entertainment and reconfiguring the tables to enable diners to speak with more people. Thirty-eight members of partner organisations volunteered to work for the Community Lunch. Of these 42% completed the volunteer survey.Volunteer respondents reported a high level of satisfaction from being involved with the pilot Community Lunch program, especially mixing with other volunteers and the diners. Some frustrations were experienced because of the limitations of the venue and equipment available.

There was confusion among volunteers, partner organisations and the community in general over who should be able to attend the lunches. This is a difficult matter to address as people have diverse beliefs on who should be able to attend. There was also confusion among partner organisations on who was responsible for leading the pilot program, with some believing the responsibility was equally shared among the partners while others had a different understanding.

To meet commitments made through the various sources of marketing the pilot program continued to May 2017. However, some of the changes identified from the surveys were adopted in 2017, including reducing the number of courses from three to two and reducing the frequency from weekly to fortnightly. Throughout term 1 2017 (February to May), the average attendance has been 10 diners, with a core group of six to seven regulars. Whether the change in frequency has resulted in the reduction of diners is unknown at this stage. However, it is cause for concern for the future of the program.

Partner organisations will be discussing with their management and/or membership their continued involvement in the Community Lunch once the pilot has finished in May. From there a meeting of the Community Lunch committee will be held to determine its future.

Introduction

The concept for the Port Fairy Community Lunch developed from discussions held between the Port Fairy Community House, the Port Fairy-Belfast Lions Club, the Port Fairy Rotary Club and the Uniting Church, Moyne Shire and Moyne Health. From these discussions, an informal partnership was agreed on. This involved some partner organisations committing to running the lunch in turns, providing volunteers to source food, prepare and serve the meals, while others would promote the lunch to members of the community with whom they would have contact.

In June 2016, a volunteer from the Port Fairy Community House was appointed to help coordinate establishing the Community Lunch program, working on funding applications, risk managed, volunteer training and procedures. The Port Fairy Community Lunch commenced in September 2016 as a pilot program and was delivered on a weekly basis, with each partner responsible one month at a time. Because of the convenience of location and facilities, it was agreed that the Port Fairy Community House would be the initial venue for the pilot program. However, alternative venues were to be considered should the Community Lunch continue after the pilot.

Whilst the Community Lunch was available for anyone to attend, there was a specific attempt to encourage people who for various reasons are unable to engage in various community activities and facilities. Marketing of the program included media releases, flyers, the Visitors Information email, and word of mouth. FoodShare in Warrnambool agreed to provide us with as much food as possible if the meals were provided free of charge, although they considered donations from the diners was acceptable. Any additional items required were purchased from the limited funding available. It was agreed that where possible a three-course meal would be provided, especially during the colder months, consisting of a soup, main course and dessert.

After running for 13 weeks, Port Fairy Community Lunch diners and volunteers were asked to participate in an anonymous survey to help evaluate the effectiveness of the lunch program and identify areas for improvement. The survey included questions about the client’s most recent experience. Diners were asked questions about their interaction with staff, the quality of the meals, the social experience and to give an overall summary of their experience. Volunteers were asked questions on operational issues and to provide suggestions for improvements. A total of 15 responses were received from the diners and a total of 16 responses were received from the volunteers.

Management of the pilot program

As mentioned, there was informal agreement between partners that each partner should be responsible for their turn in running the pilot program, providing volunteers and assisting with the recruitment of diners. Because the Community House was used as the initial venue for the pilot program, they also provided support through management of funds and resources. This has led to some confusion over the role of ‘lead agency’ with some partners believing this was the Community House while other partners thought they were leading the program.

Funding

Start-up funding for the pilot program was received from the Port Fairy-Belfast Lions Club, the Port Fairy Rotary Club, the Men’s’ Shed[WH1] and Port Fairy IGA. This enable kitchen equipment to be purchased to meet the requirements for the registration of the kitchen with Moyne Shire. Additional funding was provided through diners’ donations, the Uniting Church and Port Fairy Folk Festival.

Recruitment of volunteers

All partner organisations were responsible for recruiting volunteers for the month they were rostered on duty. Some of the partner organisations experienced difficulties with this and there seems to be a resistance in some sectors of the community for people to get involved. Some of the barriers include:

Existing demands on people’s time

Lack of clarity about the aims and reach of the program

Operational requirements (i.e. food safety training)

Regulation compliance – for potential partnerships

These difficulties have a considerable effect on the efficiency of the running of the Community Lunch and places an extra burden on all those involved.

Attendance

Over the 13-week period, 80 people attended the lunches as diners. Of these six (7.5%) attended 9 or more times, while the average attendance was 2.3 times. This resulted in 164 meals being served during this period[1]

On a week by week basis the number of diners varied between 8 and 18 and over the 13 weeks there was an average of 13 diners attending. Attendance was limited by the size of the venue, which could seat a maximum of 20.

Some partners experienced difficulties in attracting people to attend the Community Lunch as diners because of the reservation system, which was perceived as a barrier especially for those who were frail and may not know whether they can attend an event three or four days in advance. However, volunteers considered having a reservation system important for stock control and menu planning in order to minimize food waste.

Survey Methodology

The diners and volunteers’ surveys were developed by the Volunteer Port Fairy Community Lunch (PFCL) Coordinator and sent to some committee members for comments and review.

In December 2016, the diners were provided with a hard copy survey (as many do not have access to a computer) which they completed in their own time and placed in a box in the dining room. The volunteers were sent a link to an online survey (SurveyMonkey). Hard copies of the survey were available for those who preferred to complete the survey in writing.

DINERS’ SURVEY

Items on the diner survey included closed and open ended questions, and comprised the following topics:

  • Frequency of attendance
  • Reasons for attending the lunch
  • Their views of the quality and variety of meals
  • What they like about the Community Lunch
  • What could be improved?

The survey for the volunteers also included both open and closed questions on the following topics:

  • Attendance at induction and online training
  • Whether volunteering in the Community Lunch met their expectations
  • What worked well
  • What could be improved
  • Their satisfaction with management, training and opportunities to have an input
  • Whether the volunteers learnt gained new knowledge or skills from their involvement in the PFCL, and
  • Whether the knowledge and/or skills will be useful for their involvement in other groups or activities.

After being checked for missing or incomplete data, the surveys were coded and data was entered onto an Excel spreadsheet. The data from closed questions (i.e. rating, ranking type questions) was analysed using basic frequency statistics, while the qualitative data from the open questions was analysed for similarity of content.A total of 15 surveys were completed.

Note: The results reported can only be considered the opinions of the survey participants. They cannot be generalized to represent the entire diner population as a whole.

Demographics

Demographic categories included age and gender (Table 1).

  • Age was broken down into three groups:
  • Under 40 years
  • 40-65 years
  • Over 65 years
  • Gender

Table 1: Diners' demographics

Demographic / Number of diners
Male / 11
Female / 3
<40 years / 1
40-65 years / 4
>65 years / 9

Survey Results

Frequency and reasons for attending the Community Lunch

On average, the survey participants attended the lunch three times during the 13 weeks. The most common reason for attending the lunches was to meet people. Several participants commented that they lived alone and did not go out very often. Three people attended because they were invited and one because he was homeless and without food.

Importance of the Community Lunch

Participants were asked to rate the importance (Not important, Important or Very important) of the Community Lunch program based on the following factors:

It offers an opportunity to meet new people

It provides an opportunity to get out of the house

It provides a free meal

It provides an opportunity to try different foods

Figure 1shows the distribution of responses. More than half of the surveyed participants (53%) identified the opportunity to meet new people as very important. Only one person rated it as not important to them.This very much aligns with the overall goal of the program, to provide opportunities for social interaction between people.

Getting out of the house was considered the next key factor with 20% rating it as very important, and 60% rating it as important.

While 47% of the participants thought that trying different foods was important to them, of least importance to the survey participants were the opportunities to have a free meal. Only three participants (20%) considered a free meal to be important or very important.

Figure 1: Important of Community Lunch

Participants expectations of the Community Lunch

Participants were asked whether the Community Lunch was:

Less than they expected

As they expected

More than they expected.

All participants indicated that the Community Lunch met their expectations with 60% (9 participants) saying that it exceeded their expectations.

Volunteers

Participants were asked to rate the helpfulness of the volunteers. All participants found the volunteers helpful, with 87% (13 participants)regarding the volunteers as very helpful.

Quality and variety of meals

Participants were asked to rate the quality and variety of the meals (Figure 2). All gave a positive rating for the meals and overall the quality and variety of the meals was considered very good. This is a immense achievement as the cooks were not able to plan meals in advance due to having to rely on whatever was available at FoodShare in Warrnambool a day or two prior to the meal.

Figure 2: Quality and Variety of meals

What did the participants enjoy?

Most people identified meeting new people and socializing as the main thing they enjoyed about the Community Lunches. One person commented that it gave them an opportunity for:

Another said it was the:

What can be improved?

Most participants were happy with the Community Lunch and the way it was run. However, a few made the following suggestions.

Consider the configuration of tables to promote conversation among all diners

Provide some entertainment, e.g. music

Consider different portion sizes for different age groups

Allowing people to attend without booking

Some of these issues have already been discussed by the Community Lunch committee. However, addressing some of them requires more resources than we currently have available.

VOLUNTEERS’ SURVEY

A total of 38 people from four of the partner organisations volunteered to procure, prepare, cook and serve meals as well setting up and cleaning[2]. In December 2016. volunteers were asked if they would complete an online survey (SurveyMonkey) about their experiences of working on the Community Lunch Program. Sixteen volunteers completed the survey (response rate 42%).

Items on the volunteers’ survey included closed and open ended questions, and comprised the following topics:

Attending induction training

Whether volunteering for the Community Lunch met the person’s expectations

Satisfaction with the management of the Community Lunch

Satisfaction with the induction training

Satisfaction that their ideas and suggestions were adequately considered

Whether the induction training was useful

Whether volunteering for the Community Lunch was a useful experience

Whether volunteering for the Community Lunch was useful to meet other people

What worked well

What could be improved

What equipment or resources are needed to make it easier to prepare and serve lunches

Demographics

There were similar proportions of males and females who volunteered for the Community Lunch, but more than half (56%) were aged over 65 years (Table 1).

Table 2: Volunteer demographics

Demographic / Number of volunteer respondents
Males / 7
Females / 9
<40 years / 1
40-65 years / 4
>65 years / 9

Note: Because of the small sample size, the results reported can only be considered the opinions of the survey participants. They cannot be generalized to represent all volunteers.

Survey results

Training

Volunteers were required to undertake induction training if they had any involvement in the preparation or serving of food (Figure 1). Three people indicated that did not participate in the training. This may have been due to the duties they were assigned such as acting as host in the dining room, which did not require specific training.