ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 For 91-year-old Elois Lee, a delivery from Seniors First brings more than food to her Orlando home.<\/p>\n
Lee has lived in the home for about 40 years and has received services from Seniors First for more than a year.<\/p>\n
As she looked through one of her recent meals, Lee pointed out the vegetables and spaghetti with chicken.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is beautiful. It\u2019s carrots, cauliflower, string beans. And this is spaghetti with chicken. My favorite. I\u2019m going to eat some,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
Seniors First said those deliveries also give volunteers an opportunity to check on homebound seniors during Central Florida\u2019s dangerous summer heat.<\/p>\n
Katherine Brown, marketing and special events director for Seniors First, said older adults can be affected by extreme heat more quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just the nutrition. It\u2019s a visit, friendly chat, and conversation. They become friends with their clients, and it\u2019s also a safety check. Sometimes the only person a client will see or talk to on a given day is the volunteer,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
The organization has been a Meals on Wheels provider since 1973 and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n
Seniors First currently delivers between 900 and 1,100 meals each day to more than 900 seniors in Orange County. Brown said about 400 volunteers help complete the routes each week.<\/p>\n
For Lee, the volunteers also provide company.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have done a marvelous job with me. I don\u2019t have to cook anymore. They come to see me, and we talk. That\u2019s the only company that I have,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
Another Seniors First client, Beatrice Longley, said the heat has limited where she can go.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so hot now that you have to stay in to stay cool. Keep your air on. Drink plenty of water and watch what you eat,\u201d Longley said.<\/p>\n
For Lee, those visits mean she receives a healthy meal and knows someone will stop to see how she is doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would starve because my stove doesn\u2019t work. And then they\u2019re lovely. We talk a little bit. You know, they don\u2019t just come in and run out. They want to know how I am doing,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
Brown recommends that people checking on older family members or neighbors make sure they remain hydrated and keep their blinds and curtains closed during the day. She said outdoor activities should be completed before 10 a.m. or after 5 p.m. when possible.<\/p>\n
Brown said Meals on Wheels deliveries happen throughout the year, but the daily safety checks become even more important during extreme heat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 For 91-year-old Elois Lee, a delivery from Seniors First brings more than food to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,274,17174,3949,770,79026,2204,115,1053,1335,768,139,141,140,278,2032,835],"class_list":["post-363202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-community","tag-app-top-stories","tag-app-weather-stories","tag-bryanna-howard","tag-community-news","tag-extreme-heat","tag-instagram-n13","tag-news","tag-orange","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-fl","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-top-stories","tag-trending-topics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363202","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=363202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}