Meals on Wheels aims to help drivers

Rising gasoline prices are threatening to squeeze out local volunteers who use their own vehicles to deliver meals to homebound seniors and people with disabilities.

To help defray costs, organizers of the Meals on Wheels program in Spokane have created a reimbursement fund for volunteer drivers. Coeur d’Alene already had one.

“I lost two drivers who said they just couldn’t afford to drive because of the gas prices and I’m concerned that it’s going to be a trend,” said Pam Almeida, director of Spokane Valley Meals on Wheels, which has 250 drivers delivering about 100,000 meals annually. “It’s a shame that people have to pay to volunteer and to pay more than they can afford.”

Kevin Fletcher, a 44-year-old Otis Orchard resident, was forced to give up his deliveries for Spokane Valley Meals on Wheels. By the time he brought meals to four rural residents and made the roundtrip to and from his home three to four times per week, he traveled more than 50 miles in his Dodge pickup.

“It’s costing me over $10 a day to do that. I just can’t afford it,” said Fletcher, who worries that seniors who drive routes are also feeling the pinch. “A lot of those people are affected, too, because a lot of them don’t have the income.”

Doni Thromson, a 69-year-old Valley resident who receives meals, said losing drivers is tough, because people form bonds. “You get very, very attached to them and their smile or sweet saying of the day or joke just makes your day. It’s just so pleasant and uplifting – I just can’t tell you.”

In the past, Thromson delivered food for Meals on Wheels and enjoyed getting acquainted with the seniors on her route.

However, after having replacement surgeries on both shoulders, she was unable to cook and found herself looking forward to short visits with people who were delivering meals to her. “I would just hate to see any of them quit.”

Rising gas prices is the most recent blow to local Meals on Wheels programs, which are increasingly operating in the red.

Because funding from the federal Older Americans Act has remained flat, Washington state reallocated money to the West Side to cover its rapidly growing senior population. Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington received less money for the Regional Health District’s senior nutrition program, which provides the meals and partial funding for Meals on Wheels.

The trickle-down effect resulted in Meals on Wheels losing 10 cents a plate to help cover administrative costs.

Almeida hopes the community will step forward with donations to help the program offer a modest 10-cent-per-mile-reimbursement for drivers needing assistance.

Lake City Senior Center, which houses Coeur d’Alene’s Meals on Wheels Program, already gives its drivers a 32-cents-a-mile reimbursement, said Tom Moore, center director.

“At one point it was pretty fair as far as gas reimbursement goes. It still takes a large bite out (of cost) so that our drivers aren’t terribly out of pocket,” Moore said.

Lake City has 24 drivers delivering to 125 seniors three days a week.

Volunteers deliver frozen meals to serve clients during the in-between days. Moore said the program is constantly fund raising to bridge gaps in funding to offset rising costs.

After losing one volunteer driver several weeks ago and hearing a buzz of concern about gas prices from others, Cheri Mataya-Muncton, director of Mid-City Meals on Wheels, which delivers about 100,000 meals annually, established a reimbursement fund.

The fund would be available to drivers who need help to defray their costs and would help Mid-City retain its volunteers, who include college studentswho don’t have much money.

A donor immediately kicked in $1,000 and Mataya-Muncton hopes that others will step in to help.

“Our volunteers, they give so much,” she said.

“People volunteer because they want to give something to their community but when they can’t afford to pay gas prices, they can’t volunteer.”

The program is looking at other ways to lessen the cost for drivers including breaking up large routes.

Bridgette Bossio, who coordinates Mid-City’s 1,200 volunteers, said if more people sign up to deliver meals, she can divide up large routes that are costly to deliver.

“Instead of delivering to 25 people, they can deliver to 10 or 15 people.”