Executive Summary
This case study evaluates the engagement process conducted by the Office of Public Engagement to inform Meals on Wheels program expansion planning across Clarenville, Burin, and the St. John’s Metro region. The process generated strong participation, provided clear insights on demand, pricing, and delivery preferences, and helped shape next steps for program expansion. While interest was high and engagement objectives were successfully achieved, recent operational constraints, particularly volunteer availability, transportation capacity, and partnership requirements, have delayed implementation.
Background & Context
Meals on Wheels is a community outreach service that provides low-cost, nutritious meals to eligible seniors and adults with disabilities in select communities within the Eastern-Urban and Eastern-Rural zones. In December 2024, Food Services approached the Office of Public Engagement (OPE) to develop an engagement plan for expanding Meals on Wheels to Clarenville, the Burin Peninsula, and communities outside St. John’s. The engagement was initiated to ensure that decisions pertaining to program expansion were informed by community needs, preferences, and affordability considerations.
Objectives:
The goals of the Meals on Wheels engagement were to:
- Ensure expansion decisions reflect community needs and preferences.
- Identify service demand, preferred delivery frequency and pricing options that balance sustainability and affordability.
- Build awareness of the program and maintain transparency by sharing how input shaped decisions.
From an evaluation perspective, these objectives provided benchmarks for assessing the effectiveness of outreach strategies and the quality of input received.
Engagement Approach
Once the engagement goals were established, the OPE Team worked closely with the project team to design an effective engagement approach. The OPE Director developed an engagement plan that aligned with the level of engagement appropriate for this project (Involve) and outlined the publics whose perspectives were essential to informing program expansion. The Director also prepared a strategic communications plan to guide the timing, messaging, and channels for promoting the engagement opportunity across target regions. The project team also collaborated with the OPE Analyst to design an online survey to gather meaningful insights into service demand, delivery expectations, pricing preferences, and potential barriers to participation. The survey was iteratively refined to ensure clarity, accessibility, and alignment with the project’s goals and objectives.
The engagement officially launched on May 14, 2025, with a dedicated project page on Engage.NLHealthServices.ca and a public service announcement encouraging residents to complete the online survey. A multi‑channel promotional strategy was used, including targeted emails to nearly 200 community organizations and leaders identified through OPE’s provincial contacts database, poster distribution across health service sites and community spaces, and promotion through newsletters and social media. The survey remained open until June 14, 2025.
The engagement team incorporated adaptive tactics throughout the process, expanding outreach to home care agencies after early feedback and launching a follow-up survey on July 30, 2025, to clarify emerging findings. This iterative approach demonstrates responsiveness and flexibility in engagement design.
Participation & Reach
The Meals on Wheels engagement received strong participation across all three catchment areas:
- Initial survey: 399 responses (94 Burin, 60 Clarenville, 233 St. John’s Metro excluding St. John’s)
- Follow-up survey: 40 responses
- Direct inquiries: 37 submitted via the Engage page contact form
Digital promotion increased reach, with social media posts exceeding 50,000 views and hundreds of interactions. The most prominent Facebook post reached 17,807 people and received 222 clicks; LinkedIn posts collectively drew more than 150 engagements. The Engage platform saw a boost in traffic throughout May 2025, with over 2,000 users visiting the site to learn more about the Meals on Wheels program expansion. Notably, a story posted online via the local news outlet VOCM garnered significant attention accounting for approximately 40% of the monthly traffic.
Key Findings
Several key findings emerged from the engagement process:
- Multi-channel communication was highly effective, with the Engage platform, email outreach, social media, and local earned media collectively driving awareness and participation.
- Adaptive tactics improved reach, particularly the addition of home care agencies and Community Advisory Committees based on community partner suggestions.
- The follow-up survey allowed deeper exploration of key themes without requiring additional large-scale engagement.
- Digital engagement was strong, though some populations may still require offline or in-person options for equitable access.
- Engagement interest extended beyond target regions, underscoring the importance of clearly communicating project scope.
Evaluation & Metrics
The effectiveness of the Meals on Wheels engagement was assessed against the stated objectives and supported by participation data and qualitative insights. The engagement met its core objectives by generating clear input on demand, delivery preferences, and pricing considerations. Participants were strongly supportive of program expansion and highlighted a particular need for flexible delivery options and sliding-scale pricing to ensure the program is inclusive and accessible.
Awareness and representation across the target regions were strong, supported by effective email outreach, social media reach, and effective earned media coverage. The provincial contacts database prepared by the Office of Public Engagement enabled the timely identification and consolidation of more than 200 local community contacts for email outreach. This grassroots approach was instrumental in ensuring the engagement opportunity was promoted locally, particularly in smaller communities, with support from community groups and leaders to raise awareness. Overall, the project team was pleased with the strong participation from across all regions, with participation levels exceeding expectations for a first-time engagement of this scale. While Clarenville had fewer responses than the St. John’s Metro area, this was expected given its smaller population base and was comparable to engagement levels seen in Burin.
Future engagement initiatives of this kind should continue to use the provincial contacts database, leverage NL Health Services’ brand recognition, and utilize its prominent social media presence, particularly on Facebook, to amplify awareness and increase participation. This engagement initiative also highlighted the power of earned media to boost public interest and should be considered in future engagement planning.
Impact & Outcomes
The feedback collected through the engagement directly informed planning for potential program expansion. Strong participation in Clarenville and Conception Bay South (CBS) positions these communities as priority locations for future expansion, once a community partner can be identified. Insights on pricing, affordability, and the need for subsidies informed internal discussions. The engagement also attracted interest from individuals living outside the intended catchment areas, with several respondents expressing a desire to see the Meals on Wheels program expanded to their own communities.
This engagement also helped solidify the Engage platform as a reliable and effective tool for large-scale public participation within NL Health Services. The platform supported strong traffic throughout the engagement period, streamlined the collection of survey responses, and facilitated direct inquiries from the public.
To learn more about the Meals on Wheels engagement project, read the What We Heard report.