ORLANDO, Fla. — Meals on Wheels operations across Central Florida say they’re desperately in need of volunteers.
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It’s all hands on deck for Meals on Wheels through the Osceola Council on Aging, now operating with about half of the 175 volunteers needed to serve its 400 seniors.
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“It’s been a tough time this time with the COVID,” Wilda Belisle with the Osceola Council on Aging said. “Now is when the seniors need you the most.”
Last summer, local sheriff’s deputies stepped in to help when the COVID-19 delta variant surged.
New Year, new you! Just 90 minutes one morning a week can change the life of senior citizens in your neighborhood. Become a Meals on Wheels volunteer. You'll be surprised how good helping them makes you feel! Learn more here: https://t.co/nL8PyrXuYq pic.twitter.com/T6vWT7PUJb
— Seniors First, Inc. (@SeniorsFirstOrl) January 10, 2022
Now with the emergence of the omicron variant, Belisle says they have areas they can’t even reach because of the lack of volunteers.
The Senior Resource Alliance- which oversees Meals on Wheels in Osceola, Orange, Brevard, and Seminole Counties- says they need volunteers in all four areas.
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“A lot of routes we would normally deliver daily went to once a week delivery of frozen meals,” Katherine Brown of Seniors First said.
With 600 Meals on Wheels clients, Seniors First is still working to return to daily deliveries.
“As people are beginning to return to the workplace, that has caused us to struggle a little bit,” Brown said. “Their schedules have changed while the need has not.”
In Volusia County, there’s a need for backup drivers to step in for those who are out sick.
Volunteering for meals on wheels only requires 60 to 90 minutes, one day a week.
For a county-by-county breakdown of how to volunteer for your local Meals on Wheels, see below:
ORANGE COUNTY
SEMINOLE COUNTY
Seminole County Meals On Wheels, Inc.
VOLUSIA COUNTY
386-253-4700, extension 239
OSCEOLA COUNTY
407-846-8532
MARION COUNTY
352-620-3501, extension 111
SUMTER COUNTY
352-748-3411
(Brevard, Seminole, Orange, Osceola Counties)
“I am so grateful for the #volunteers – people who have it in their heart to help. They don’t have to do it, but they do.” Read Martha's #MealsOnWheels story: https://t.co/193PKgq6LV pic.twitter.com/0tNxWtYsNu
— Meals on Wheels (@_MealsOnWheels) January 25, 2022
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