Florien has lived a rich and vibrant 95 years as a devoted husband to his late wife and loving father to eight children, seven grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren. Also, he finds great pride in having served his country in the Battle of the Bulge during WWII.
These days, life is slower but still full of challenges. He lives with his stepdaughter, Wanda, because he now struggles with dementia. Although Florien helps with some cooking and cleaning, he needs Wanda's help daily, which means she can't work full-time. This seriously reduces her income and keeping food on the table is hard.
Florien and Wanda make a good team. With Florien's formidable spirit and Wanda's loving support, they take each day as it comes. Wanda might bring Florien to the Veterans Affairs hospital for his prescriptions or an appointment, and every two weeks they will visit the Mobile Foodshare site in Southington to pick up the fresh produce, dairy, and meat that is hard to afford on social security and SNAP alone.
Florien loves the apples, potatoes, and onions - which he fries up or makes into soup. He also looks forward to the rare treat when the Mobile Foodshare truck brings cookies (the man likes his sweets).
While Florien and Wanda continue to adjust to a life that is challenging at times, they are thankful there are people to help them when they can't seem to make ends meet. And Foodshare is honored to be part of the safety net that allows Florien and Wanda to make life work.
