Meals on Wheels operations throughout Central Florida in need of volunteers

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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.

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.

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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

Seniors First


SEMINOLE COUNTY

Seminole County Meals On Wheels, Inc.


VOLUSIA COUNTY

Volusia Council on Aging

386-253-4700, extension 239


OSCEOLA COUNTY

Osceola Council on Aging

407-846-8532


MARION COUNTY

Marion Senior Services

352-620-3501, extension 111


SUMTER COUNTY

Sumter Senior Services

352-748-3411


SENIOR RESOURCE ALLIANCE

(Brevard, Seminole, Orange, Osceola Counties)

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