{"id":9569,"date":"2011-09-01T15:04:01","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T19:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=9569"},"modified":"2011-09-01T13:38:23","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T17:38:23","slug":"meals-on-wheels-not-available-in-east-tampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=9569","title":{"rendered":"Meals On Wheels Not Available In East Tampa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After his mother suffered a stroke, a Tampa man attempted to have lunch delivered to her through a food delivery program. To his dismay, he learned that not only is the program not available in East Tampa, there is a waiting list as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Billy Wheeler<\/strong> said, \u201cMy mother had a mild stoke on June 17th and I became her principal caregiver. It\u2019s not easy preparing three meals a day when you\u2019re not used to it. I thought that if I signed her up for the \u201cMeals On Wheels\u201d program that would give me more time to prepare dinner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was told that the program was not operating in East Tampa because of a shortage of volunteers. Fortunately, I\u2019m here to be sure my mother gets her daily meals. But, I\u2019m now wondering how many other seniors and disabled persons may be in our area who are not so blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said his mother,<strong> Mrs. Delores Wheeler<\/strong>, who is 89 years old, is doing better every day. Now, his thoughts turn to others in the community who may not be fairing so well.<\/p>\n<p>When contacted by the <em>Sentinel<\/em>, <strong>Ms. Cindy Vann<\/strong>, Director of Donor Relations for Meals On Wheels Tampa, confirmed the service is not available in East Tampa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a constant challenge trying to meet the growing needs of our recipients. We are a private organization and we don\u2019t receive any government funds. Our program operates on volunteers. The volunteers are the heart and soul of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ms. Vann<\/strong> stated that there are several food distribution sites in Hillsborough County and she tries to keep the volunteer routes about 10 miles.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers use their own vehicles and gasoline. They also can choose when they wish to volunteer. The volunteers deliver the lunch meal Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ms. Vann<\/strong> said the volunteering usually takes place from 9:30 a.m. until about 12 noon. Anyone wishing to learn more about the program can visit their website at www.mow.org. Anyone wishing to volunteer can contact <strong>Ms. Jan Costello<\/strong> at (813) 238-8410. <strong>[private]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The recipients of the lunch program are people who are unable to cook for themselves; people who have difficulty shopping for food; disabled adults who do not have mid-day care; expectant mothers with pregnancy difficulties or restrictions; seniors who need a balanced diet and nourishment; and patients discharged from hospitals or rehabilitation facilities. The recipients qualify for the meals on a sliding fee scale, ranging from free to $4.75 per meal.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler said, \u201cI was surprised that the program is not available in East Tampa. Unfortunately, we need it the most and it\u2019s just not available. Once my mother improves, I\u2019m thinking about volunteering.\u201d<strong>[\/private]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor After his mother suffered a stroke, a Tampa man attempted to have lunch delivered to her through a food delivery program. To his dismay, he learned that not only is the program not available in East Tampa, there is a waiting list as well. Billy Wheeler said, \u201cMy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}