Across Missoula County, the hundreds of volunteers who set out every day to feed the hungry, tutor our children and comfort the sick are increasingly feeling the sting of high gas prices.
And while most of the community needs are being met, many people are wondering how much longer those volunteers can stick with it.
Baldwin oversees the more than 600 volunteers who regularly donate their time and energy to the RSVP program of Missoula Aging Services, a program that is a clearinghouse for Missoula County seniors who want to volunteer at more than 100 agencies and nonprofits in the valley.
In the last year, as gas prices have soared to record highs, those senior volunteers have become much more selective in the jobs they'll perform.
“A volunteer would have said yes to 10 (requests) just months ago, but it's currently dropping down to six or seven,” said Baldwin. “And I expect it to continue. The number of volunteers isn't dropping, but their ability to respond to each call is changing.”
Meals on Wheels, the program that delivers nearly 300 meals to homebound seniors every day, has managed to retain most of its volunteers in Missoula County. But nationally, half of the Meals on Wheels programs are facing cutbacks in home deliveries as drivers are more difficult to find.
Jim Deeds, a retired Smurfit-Stone Container employee, has been volunteering for Meals on Wheels since January 2007. That's back when gas was selling for a comfortable $2.20 a gallon.
All that time, Deeds and most of the other Meals on Wheels drivers have donated their gas, opting not to be reimbursed for the 32 cents per gallon they could collect.
Today, as gas hovers around the $4 mark with no relief in sight, Deeds admits that it's getting more tempting to ask for reimbursement.
“I donate it still, but it's getting tougher,” said Deeds as he collected his meals on Thursday behind the Providence Center on North Orange Street. “We'll keep going as long as we can.”
Not only has the price of gas soared, but the price of food as well. In most of the country, Meals on Wheels is facing rising meal prices as the costs of production and transport rise.
Not so in Missoula, at least for now.
That's because the Missoula Meals on Wheels program last year signed a five-year contract with the Thomas Cuisine Agency, guaranteeing a set per-meal price for the next four years.
“That's one thing they can count on not increasing for the next four years,” said Richard Huffman, food service director for the agency, which has had to absorb the price increases.
Dairy and beef specifically have risen 15 percent, said Huffman.
“It's not crippling us or anything,” he said. “We're absorbing it by looking for ways to cut costs and not be so wasteful.”
Bernie O'Connor, program officer with Missoula Aging Services, said the fact that the soaring price of gas hasn't severely affected the local Meals on Wheels program is a testament to Missoula's army of volunteers.
“If we had to have a paid staff to provide the distribution, we would only be serving a fraction of the clients,” he said. “And we would have to establish a waiting list. We really admire the volunteers, who continue to do it with the added pressure of having to pay more for gas.”
For Deeds, it's not, at least for now, too much of a burden - economically or time-wise.
“If you visit with some of these people and see how much they really need this service, it's a no-brainer,” he said.
Reporter Jamie Kelly can be reached at 523-5254 or at jkelly@missoulian.com.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)