Losing helping hands

Some Gainesville social service organizations are reporting a dip in their number of volunteers, and many groups worry they will have to cut back on the goods and services they provide to the community.

The culprit, organization officials said, is the high price of gas, which surpassed the $4 per gallon mark for regular gasoline in Gainesville in late May. Services where driving is a key element to volunteer work, like Meals on Wheels and Gainesville Harvest, two organizations that pick up and deliver fresh foods and other necessary items to people in need, are feeling the pinch.

Meals on Wheels, a program provided by ElderCare of Alachua County, has around 30 volunteers and has been experiencing volunteer shortages for almost four months, said Jeff Lee, who manages program operations for ElderCare.

An average route for food delivery runs about 15 miles, Lee said. On a given day, empty routes create openings that in-office staff must cover, he said. While gas prices have not altered routes, multiple openings in a given day can cause delivery delays.

These organizations and others depend on volunteers, whose donation of time can add up to the work of several paid employees.

"We depend on our volunteers so much," said Frances Leslie, the executive director for Gainesville Harvest. "Our budget does not carry enough for gas, but we are hanging in there."

Gainesville Harvest, a non-profit organization that collects and distributes food to pantries and other sites, serves mostly Alachua County. While the organization has several dedicated volunteers, Leslie said it has not seen any newcomers for some time and it also has become difficult to get volunteers to drive longer distances to reach those most in need.

The non-profit is working on buying a truck and refrigerated trailer to deliver fresh nutritional food to the homeless and working poor, Leslie said.

Leslie said she tries not to worry about gas prices.

"This is not a quest that we can fear," she said. "The work we do is a must. It's a given."

Other organizations report similar volunteer shortages, even when driving is not a major factor in the service they provide.

Gainesville Community Ministry has been losing volunteers since gas prices began to surpass $2, said Michael Wright, the ministry's executive director. Both the number of volunteers as well as donations made to the ministry's two thrift shops have decreased, he said. Some volunteers have inquired about reimbursement for the miles they drive, but the ministry does not have the funds to do that.

"I anticipate it will only get worse over time," said Wright. "Those volunteering from farthest out will leave first."

High gas prices are affecting people at every level: people who want to help and people who need the help, Wright said.

With fewer volunteers, it takes longer to deliver services and work hours need to be adjusted to accommodate fewer volunteers on hand to help.

This creates a lack of income for the ministry, he said, and there is concern with how much the ministry can continue to provide to the community.

A lot of the ministry's volunteers are on fixed incomes or retired, and with the higher cost of living, they choose to cut back on volunteering, he said.

Even organizations that can reimburse for gas are losing volunteers. Although Senior Services in Alachua County has more than 730 volunteers in the Foster Grandparent Program and the Retired and Senior Services Program, there are fewer new volunteers joining their ranks, said Rebecca Falmlen, director of Senior Services in Alachua County.

The organization is federally funded and is able to pay between 30 to 44.5 cents per mile driven, she said. Some of the seniors who can afford it offer not to be paid for their mileage, which allows the organization to use the money in other ways, including paying gas expenses for other volunteers, she said. Both programs differ on the amount that can be reimbursed per mile and per day, but it is still not enough to cover the full cost of gas, Falmlen said.

Senior Services volunteers - who are 55 years old or older - work with more than 70 non-profit agencies in Alachua County.

Volunteer work varies from spending time with special-needs children to giving tours at museums.

"I'm concerned about the impact of the increased cost in mileage for the agencies in our community," said Falmlen. "There could be a loss of services countywide for citizens, which could be very negative for everyone."