With hurricane season officially underway, it\u2019s time for Southwest Floridians to make emergency preparations in the event of a storm.<\/p>\n
But what about those older residents unable to build hurricane emergency kits on their own?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Florida Power & Light (FPL) and Community Cooperative have partnered to distribute hurricane preparedness meal kits to 500 seniors across Fort Myers.<\/p>\n
The hope is that the meal kits will help ease the worries of seniors who may not have necessary supplies ahead of the hurricane season.<\/p>\n
Donald Green, videoed by FPL during a meal kit delivery, described how much the help meant to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot to me. It means somebody is caring and that\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each meal kit contains a three-day supply of shelf-stable foods and water for older adults who may not be able to leave their homes or receive home-delivered meals immediately after a storm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese kits are great for providing just a little bit of security and comfort,\u201d said Community Cooperative events coordinator Albert Ferraro. \u201cThe hurricane season can be stressful and scary for all of us, but it adds a layer when you aren\u2019t able to leave your house on a regular basis, so people are really happy for these kits.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the sixth year of the partnership between FPL and Community Cooperative. Charlotte Miller, FPL\u2019s External Affairs Initiatives Director for Southwest Florida, says it\u2019s important for FPL to be involved in the same communities it serves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel like it\u2019s very important to support our community and make it stronger,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we have an opportunity to work with an organization like Community Cooperative and provide meals to homebound seniors, it\u2019s really an important thing that touches us all. Many of these seniors may not have family or friends in the area, so to be able to give them the knowledge that they have food in case they need it in an emergency for a few days is paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Crenshaw, FPL Western Region Corporate Real Estate Manager, said the company helped his family when they were impacted by Hurricane Ian and wants to give back as a result. It\u2019s why he was among the group of volunteers that assembled and distributed meal kits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of this organization and what they do during hurricanes,\u201d Crenshaw said. \u201cIf you\u2019ve ever been in a situation where you can\u2019t do it for yourself, this is priceless to have somebody show up and show that they care.\u201d<\/p>\n
FPL officials say they will also be distributing hurricane meal kits to older residents in Charlotte, Collier, Desoto, Glades and Hendry counties.<\/p>\n
Support provided by the Franklin R. Edwards Memorial Fellowship.\u00a0WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and\u00a0donate\u00a0<\/a>now. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With hurricane season officially underway, it\u2019s time for Southwest Floridians to make emergency preparations in the event of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-299734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}