Demand for meals through the shire's Meals on Wheels program has increased dramatically since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Central Highlands Rural Health hotel services manager Wendy van der Pol said volunteers delivered 650 meals to clients in May, but that number increased to 1484 in September.

The health service applied for and received additional government funding to provide all meals free to clients since May, whereas the service usually requires a financial contribution from clients.

Ms van der Pol said volunteers had delivered a total of 5277 free meals since May.

"It is really lovely to be able to do that for people, especially during this COVID time," she said.

"It is a really difficult time for people who haven't been able to go out of their homes, so at least they are getting their meals delivered.

"It has also given them extra money to pay their utility bills. They are home a lot more, a lot of them were self isolating, so bills are much higher."

Creswick resident John Morris has been a Meals on Wheels recipient for about six years.

He receives meals seven days a week, with weekend meals delivered frozen on a Friday.

"It makes it much easier for me," he said.

"We started when my late wife was in hospital.

"Knowing me, I would be eating anything rather than cooking. It has made quite a difference."

Ms van der Pol said 14 new volunteers had signed up to assist in delivering meals, but more help was needed to keep up with demand and reduce the load for current volunteers.

Central Highlands Rural Health staff have been making deliveries when needed to meet community needs.

Ms van der Pol said the role was about more than just delivering meals, but checking in on clients and their health.

"They are not having the usual visitors they would have. It is an opportunity to check in them, make sure they are okay and they get to see someone for the day," she said.

Eighteen-year-old Matthew Catterson started as a volunteer in Creswick three months ago and has been delivering up to 18 meals one day a week since.

"We ask how they are going, if they need anything like getting letters out of their letter box and you make sure they are well or as well as they can be," he said.

"It does feel pretty rewarding. You can see with some people, without the meals they probably wouldn't be going too great. You can see how much of a difference it makes for people."

A City of Ballarat spokesperson said Ballarat's Meals on Wheels program experienced a 50 per cent increase in demand when COVID restrictions first came into place with people ordering seven days of meals.

Numbers in Ballarat have returned to a similar level to this time last year since restrictions have eased, with the majority of people ordering three to four days of meals.

Visit chrh.org.au/get-involved/volunteer-opportunities/ to apply to volunteer for Central Highlands Rural Health.

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