What the free power station program for Central Florida seniors gives out
Seniors First, a nonprofit that serves seniors across Central Florida, delivered 60 free power stations to its Meals on Wheels clients ahead of the 2026 hurricane season, its third year running the distribution. A power station is a portable battery that a person charges from a wall outlet before a storm arrives, then uses afterward to run a lamp or charge a phone during a power outage.
Meals on Wheels is a program that delivers meals to seniors who have trouble leaving home, so Seniors First already visits the people it now equips with backup power. The 2025 units were Anker brand power stations rated at 300 running watts, a rating that measures how much power a battery can supply at once, enough to run a lamp, charge a phone or power a small medical device, but not a refrigerator or a window air conditioner. Handing out a power station at that same visit means a senior who loses electricity in a storm still has light and a working phone, without needing to buy or install anything.
How this year compares with the year before
In 2025, Seniors First distributed 160 free power stations to Meals on Wheels clients in Orange County, paid for by Heart of Florida United Way, a nonprofit that raises money for local charities. The 2026 round reached Meals on Wheels clients across Central Florida more broadly, without naming a specific county, and gave out 100 fewer units than 2025, a drop of 62.5%, a figure this publication calculated by comparing the 2 counts. Neither report names a funder for the 2026 round, and neither explains why the total fell.
The 2025 total, 160, comes from source 2. The 2026 total, 60, comes from source 1. The 100 unit drop and the 62.5% figure are a calculation performed by this publication, comparing the 2 counts, not a number either source states directly, and no source explains why the total fell.
Show the numbers
| 2025 | 160 |
| 2026 | 60 |
These portable power stations are more than just a safety measure, they're a lifeline.
Marsha Lorenz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Seniors First. Source 2.
Why hurricane season is the risk this program is built for
Central Florida faces this risk every year. The Atlantic hurricane season, the time of year when tropical storms are most likely to form over the Atlantic Ocean, runs from June 1 to November 30. An average season, based on the 1991 to 2020 period, brings 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes, storms with winds strong enough to cause severe damage, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricanes and major hurricanes are counted within the named storms total, not added on top of it, per the figures published by the National Hurricane Center.
Show the numbers
| Named storms | 14 |
| Hurricanes | 7 |
| Major hurricanes | 3 |
Why losing power is dangerous for someone who depends on medical equipment
More than 4,600,000 Medicare beneficiaries nationally live independently and depend on electricity powered medical equipment or essential health care services at home, according to the emPOWER Program, run jointly by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services within the Department of Health and Human Services. The Federal Emergency Management Agency tells anyone using powered medical equipment or refrigerated medicine to make a power outage plan with a medical provider, and to throw out refrigerated medication if the power stays out more than a day, unless the label says otherwise.
With hurricane season, we all know losing power is inconvenient, right? But for a lot of senior citizens, it could conceivably be dangerous.
Katherine Brown, Communications and Special Events Director for Seniors First. Source 1.
Martin Williamson, a Meals on Wheels client who received a power station this year, describes what having backup power means to him going into hurricane season.
I have something that turns some lights on. I feel a little safer.
Martin Williamson, Meals on Wheels client who received a power station. Source 1.