LAKEWOOD RANCH — Meals on Wheels Plus of Manatee is hoping someone would like to donate an existing site for the organization’s first Friendship Dining Center for Lakewood Ranch seniors.
The ideal space for such a dining center would be a hall, storefront or recreational room that could accommodate up to 30 people, and include room for a refrigerator and a microwave, said Kristen Theisen, director of development for Meals on Wheels Plus.
The meals would be prepared at another Meals on Wheels location and shipped over, Theisen added.
“With the growing population in Lakewood Ranch, we’ve wanted to reach out there for some time,” Theisen said. ”We would like to start the program immediately.
“We were thinking a storefront area, like in a plaza like San Marco,” Theisen said. “We are hoping to find someone who would like to donate space as a charitable write-off or give us a deal.”
Meals on Wheels Plus of Manatee is a nonprofit with an annual budget of about $7 million. It has been operating since 1972.
The organization’s home-delivered meal program represents about 60 percent of the 4,000 meals produced weekly with the four dining centers getting the remainder, Theisen said.
Dining centers offer activities along with food.
“I think having one in Lakewood Ranch is a great idea,” said Jean Stewart, a supervisor representing the Summerfield and Riverwalk communities. “They have senior centers, but there is nothing on the east side for seniors. If we didn’t have Town Hall and the Empty Nesters club, I don’t know what there would be in Lakewood Ranch for seniors.”
The dining centers are not necessarily for low-income seniors. The centers allow seniors at any income level to bring friends or meet new ones, Theisen said.
Meals on Wheels Plus projects the Lakewood Ranch site being the first center with “sunset dining,” which would be an evening meal with music and entertainment, Theisen said.
“They could enjoy themselves sitting around a piano,” Theisen said.
Meals on Wheels Plus may need to use such a facility from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday for breakfast and lunch and 4-8 p.m. for dinner, Theisen added.
For more information, call Blane at Meals on Wheels Plus at (941) 747-4655.
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