Meals on Wheels volunteers could get fuel help from county
Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008
Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton told members of the Finance Committee that he does not want elderly folks who need home-delivered meals to go without them because of high gas prices.
That is why he recommended the county pay $ 5 per day for the next six months to volunteers who use their own vehicles to deliver meals to senior citizens in the county.
The Finance Committee concurred Tuesday. It will cost the county $ 10, 625 if the full Quorum Court approves the measure.
“ Money is so short right now that it is hard for them to come up with the money for the $ 5 stipend, ” Hunton said Wednesday.
He said the county aid is a way to “ help the volunteers be volunteers. ”
A lot of senior citizens get their only socialization and meals through the homedelivered meals program, Hunton said.
“ A lot of them can’t fend for themselves, ” he said.
The Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District Inc., based in Harrison, contracts with the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas to provide the meals and other services, including socialization at senior centers and group meals. There are 17 volunteer meal delivery routes. Meals are delivered 250 days per year.
The $ 5 stipend is based on gas prices and the average miles volunteers travel to deliver meals, said Kaye Curtis, director of senior services for the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District.
“ We never were able to pay the volunteers gas stipends, ” she said.
With the increase in fuel costs, she said, “ our volunteers are having difficulty continuing to deliver meals for obvious reasons. We’re really having to take a look at our volunteer meal program. ”
There are five volunteer delivery routes in Fayetteville, six in Springdale, two in both Prairie Grove and Elkins, and one in both Lincoln and Farmington.
Each volunteer drives about 10 miles per day, according to information Curtis provided to Hunton.
There are six hot-meal delivery trucks taking meals to homebound people throughout the county. There are two trucks each in Springdale and Fayetteville, one truck that services the western part of the county, and one that serves the West Fork-Greenland area.
These trucks drive an average of 20 miles per day to deliver meals, Curtis said.
She said the increasing cost of fuel is affecting how far into the rural areas the agency can make deliveries.
“ Even in Fayetteville we often, on a daily basis, have volunteers calling in and they are choosing not to deliver meals for a lot of reasons, ” she said. “ A lot of it’s the gas prices. ”
Most senior centers in the county are making cuts to avoid deficits because of high gas prices that affect everything, especially the price of food for home-delivered and group meals, said Jerry Mitchell, executive director of the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas.
There also has been a decrease in donations, he said.
With the fiscal year just beginning, he said, “ we’re probably going to see about a 25 percent a year cut before the year’s over in some of the services. It depends on the amount of money that people donate. ”
Prairie Grove and Farmington senior centers have witnessed cutbacks in hours or elimination of director positions to handle the reduction in donations, he noted.
“ I think that this is an opportunity where some of the faith-based organizations can step forward, ” he said, adding they could sponsor transpor tation routes for seniors or pay for a few home-delivered meals.
Mitchell said he hopes the $ 5 stipend will prompt some volunteers to resume their service.
“ I just know that all over we’re having people say, ‘ We can’t deliver anymore because gas is so high, ’” he said.
He said the fuel stipend could ultimately help people get off waiting lists for home meal deliveries in some areas of the county.
As of Tuesday, he said, the Fayetteville Senior Center had no waiting list.
“ We do have some senior centers that do have a small waiting list now, ” he said.
He said it costs about $ 1, 000 for one person to get home-delivered meals for a year.
“ So many of these folks who get Meals on Wheels are housebound, ” Hunton said. “ These are the most vulnerable folks in our community, and these are people who have paid their taxes over the years, who’ve raised their families. They’re members of our community, and we need to take care of them. ”
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