FORT WALTON BEACH — Todd Harrell wants to see more families share sit-down Sunday dinners with their senior loved ones.
Particularly since Home Instead Inc. revealed that 50 percent of surveyed families living near senior relatives feel they do not share enough meals with them.Home Instead randomly sampled 1,000 U.S. and Canadian households between Feb. 10 and 15. Almost 75 percent of people surveyed said they only sit down for a family meal with senior loved ones for special occasions, events or holidays.
But "for seniors, it’s not what’s on their plate that matters most at mealtime — it’s who is at the table with them,” said Harrell, owner of the Fort Walton Beach Home Instead Senior Care office. “When seniors share meals with a companion, they have a better mealtime experience — both nutritionally and emotionally.”
The Home Instead Senior Care Foundation will donate $1 to Meals on Wheels America (up to $20,000 total through July 31) for each person who commits to regularly scheduling family dinners at SundayDinnerPledge.com.
To help families host Sunday dinner, Home Instead Senior Care has partnered with celebrity chef and mother of four Melissa d’Arabian to develop easy, nutritious recipes, also available on the website.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: This new effort benefits Okaloosa seniors and Meals on Wheels