Meals on Wheels cancels deliveries on Wednesday

Len Rice loads up a Lifescape van with food items. Nationally, Meals on Wheels is drastically lacking volunteer drivers for the program.

ROCKFORD — Lifescape Community Services said it is canceling Meals on Wheels deliveries to its nine-county service area in northwest Illinois because of the extreme cold.

Temperatures at 9 a.m. in the Sauk Valley were a minus 8 degrees.

Those meal recipients in Winnebago, Boone, Lee and Ogle counties are instructed to use their emergency meal. The cancellation also applies to congregate dining sites.

Lifescape asks neighbors and family members to check in on older adults and make sure they are safe and equipped for the weather.