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Representatives from Florida Power & Light, Suwannee River Economic Council in Palatka, United Way of St. Johns County and First Presbyterian Church of Palatka volunteer at a hurricane meal kit distribution earlier this week.
Florida Power & Light and Suwannee River Economic Council in Palatka partnered Monday to distribute 306 hurricane meal kits to 102 seniors across Putnam County.
The kits were an effort to help seniors stay prepared for Hurricane season, which began June 1, and included three days’ worth of shelf-stable food and water. The items in the kit do not require refrigeration or heating, so they will be ready to eat if seniors do not have access to electricity, gas or other amenities following a major storm.
The meals were distributed starting at 11 a.m. near the Bread of Life, 320 N. Fifth St. in Palatka, a nonprofit organization that works to address hunger and food insecurity.
Sean Helton, FPL’s senior communications strategist, served as a volunteer and media liaison for the meal kit event.
“With the start of hurricane season upon us, FPL encourages customers to have a plan in place and to be prepared should a storm come our way,” Helton said. “Our goal with this program is to ensure that vulnerable seniors who may not be able to leave their homes or receive home-delivered meals after a storm have food and water supplies on-hand should a hurricane impact their community.”
Bread of Life Vice President Kimberly Daley said she was thrilled to be chosen as a location for the distribution.
“We want to thank FPL, Suwannee River Economic Council and United Way of St. Johns County,” she said. “The Bread of Life sees a growing number of seniors coming for a daily meal with us, and oftentimes, they learn about other programs in our community during the lunch hour and connect with much-needed services.”
The meal kits will enable senior citizens to stay nourished in the event of a hurricane or inclement weather and for that, Daley added. And for that, she is grateful.
“Our lunch folks were still commenting today how meaningful it was for the agencies to reach out to them in this way,” Daley said. “A sincere thanks to all those who made this event possible. And we look forward to working with them on future awareness projects.”
The Bread of Life serves a daily meal from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Donations are welcomed and appreciated.
According to Carol Saviak – FPL’s external affairs manager, who was at the meal kit giveaway – this was the company’s first time partnering with the Suwannee River Economic Council to provide this resource for Palatka’s seniors.
“We look forward to future opportunities to work with local agencies to better serve our most vulnerable populations,” she said. “We will be having similar distribution events in many of the counties that FPL serves throughout the summer.”
Besides volunteers from FPL and Suwannee River Economic Council, representatives from United Way and First Presbyterian Church of Palatka were also at the giveaway.
