Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Robert Gares was given just six months to live three years ago and today, despite some mobility issues, the 16-year St. Cloud resident is going strong with some help from the Osceola County Council on Aging.

“I must be doing something right,” Gares said.

Gares’ mobile home was on one of 31 different routes as part of Wednesday’s Mayors for Meals, a national annual event held by Meals on Wheels organizations using elected officials and community leaders to highlight the program.

“These people have been really good to me,” said Gares, 74, who was one of 215 people served meals Wednesday. “The meals are always on time.”

Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan joined several other elected officials including Osceola County Sheriff Bob Hansell and Kissimmee Commissioner Jerry Gemskie for Mayors for Meals. Swan has partnered with the council and Meals on Wheels since the 1980s and said he finds the experience “very humbling and uplifting.”

Swan supports the program, not just for the nutritional benefits, but for the social aspect the volunteers provide by spending a few extra minutes talking to those seniors who receive the meals.

“Oftentimes, elderly folks don’t have visitors or someone to talk to,” he said. “I think it’s important to recognize the needs of those who maybe don’t have families or support systems. What COA (Council on Aging) does is critical.”

Osceola County Emergency Management supported the event by passing out 200 weather radios to seniors receiving the meals. Emergency Management Director David Casto had the radios programmed to “go off only for Osceola County” weather-related emergencies, such as flooding, tornados or hurricanes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration All Hazard radios were provided through the Emergency Management Preparedness Trust Fund, a state trust that collects $6 for every insurance policy sold in the state.

Retired Florida Highway Patrol trooper Earl Fisher lives in the flood-prone Jade Isle mobile home park in St. Cloud near Lake Runnymede and is grateful for the new weather radio placed on his television by Casto. Fisher, 73, also appreciates the meals he receives three days a week.

“Meals on Wheels is the best damn thing that ever happened,” Fisher said. “I’m no nutritionist, but they’re the best balanced meals I’ve ever seen.”

St. Cloud Police Chief Pete Gauntlett was joined by three of his employees delivering not just food and conversation but also the weather radios.

“We met an awful lot of terrific seniors who were in dire need of this service,” he said about the 14 St. Cloud stops he made. “It was particularly heartfelt and heartwarming to talk with them.”

Gauntlett said an event like Mayors for Meals helps his department “better note” where homebound seniors are located within the city “to better keep an eye on them.” He plans to get his department involved more often throughout the year.

Meals on Wheels is funded through donations, state resources and grants and is part of the Council on Aging’s $1.1 million nutrition budget, which also funds on-site meals and the organization’s food pantry, among other programs, spokesperson Rob Dent said.

The meals cost $5 each and include both a hot lunch and a cold dinner. Qualified seniors can opt into as many days of food delivery as needed, supplementing those meals with programs like Food Stamps and food pantry visits, if possible.

“Some (seniors) have indicated the amount of food (delivered) lasts them into the next day,” Dent said. “It varies.”

This year was the Council on Aging’s sixth Mayors for Meals event.

For more information on the Meals on Wheels program, contact Wilda Belisle at 407-847-2144 or visit www.osceo

lagenerations.org.