GALLERY: Celebration time for Sona Sásta in Summerhill
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Olga Kondratenko and Natalia Rydbokorovka.Image 2 of 11
Luba Healy with Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh in Summerhill.Image 3 of 11
Cllr Noel French with Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.Image 4 of 11
Johnny Guirke TD shares a joke with Mick Finnegan.Image 5 of 11
Liam Gaffney and David Prendagast.Image 6 of 11
Patricia Tobin and Clare Murray.Image 7 of 11
Mick Finnegan and Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.Image 8 of 11
John Tobin, Pat Dunne, Freda McHugh, Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Mary Nally, Liam Gaffney and Dan Walsh.Image 9 of 11
Mick Moriarty (Dingle), Mary Nally, Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Deputy Peadar Tóibín.Image 10 of 11
Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh helps open the new Sona Sasta premises with Mary Nally. PHOTO: David Prendergast. David PrendergastImage 11 of 11
John Tobin and Inspector Pat Kenny of the Garda Band.Legendary broadcaster Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh was guest of honour to officially open Sona Sásta Meals on Wheels' new premises in Summerhill on Friday.
The event was also a celebration to mark the 25th anniversary of Sona Sásta, which provides hot meals to people in the Summerhill and surrounding area.
It recently moved to a new premises on the Village Green and Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh performed the ribbon cutting ceremony with the Garda Band playing afterwards in Community Centre.
Meals on Wheels recipients, past and present volunteers, past and present learners, local TDs and councillors, and long-standing supporters of the service were also in attendance.
Since inception in November 1996, Sona Sásta Meals on Wheels provides daily hot lunches to members of the community who, for reasons of age or health, would find the preparation of their own daily lunch a strain. Lunch consists of a hot nutritious meal prepared with local ingredients in their rented Summerhill premises.
Lunch is provided from Monday to Friday for 50 weeks of the year and it can be eaten on-site or delivered to the service user’s home by a volunteer. Sona Sásta serves the wider community of Summerhill including Agher, Enfield, Kilcock, Kiltale, Moynalvey and Rathmolyon. The service is managed by a voluntary committee with Seán Boylan, former Meath county football manager, as Honorary Patron.
Meals are prepared and served by learners who are engaged in the Department of Social Protection’s Community Employment (CE) project.
Sona Sásta owns a minibus which provides transport so that service users can come to the premises to eat lunch if they wish. This provides an opportunity for social engagement for members of the community who might otherwise be unable to leave their homes.
Bingo, music and chat were also enjoyed on-site pre-pandemic. Sona Sásta also participates in the Food Cloud program whereby food received from local supermarkets is distributed to service users and disadvantaged families in the local area.
In recent times, the Sona Sásta premises has also been providing a welcoming venue for members of the Ukrainian community to meet with local volunteers who provide English language classes. The Sona Sásta bus is used to provide day trips for the recently arrived Ukrainian families.
Additional service users are always welcome as we have the capacity to prepare and deliver lunch to many more members of our local Community. Additional volunteers are also welcome.