Are high gas prices affecting your organization? If prices stay high, will you have to increase the costs of any of your services to cover the gap? Are any of your volunteers more reluctant to offer transportation or participate because of the increased price of gas?
We have over 100 volunteer drivers and they are not complaining about our reimbursement formula but on the other hand we have found that people are not currently volunteering to drive. We will be raising the mileage payments from .30/km to .32/km for in-town but the agency will have to absorb that cost because most of our clients are on the poverty line. We are concerned about the source of volunteer drivers drying up.
--- Betty Lyn Enns
After 8 years of maintaining a constant fee for transportation services,
our agency has had to increase its fee five cents to 30 cents a km. This
step was undertaken after significant discussion by three committees,
including our volunteer and strategic planning committee. Many agency
volunteers were expressing reservations about continuing their ongoing
volunteer service to the agency. the agency will provide almost 30,000 one
way trips this year to seniors and people with special needs in Victoria
County. The loss of even one volunteer is a concern. We regret that the
cost of the increase will have to be born by the client. Most appear
accepting, although we know there will be those who simply cannot afford
the increase. Who will advocate for these clients?
--- Val Barkey, Community Care Victoria County
Two groups being affected by high gas prices are volunteer drivers
and the people they serve. One local non-profit organization in my
county coordinates volunteer drivers to provide transportation for
seniors and people with disabilities - people who would otherwise have
no way to get around our very rural county. These volunteers are often
called upon to drive clients to important medical and specialist
appointments, family events (such as weddings and funerals), and other
essential outings. High gas prices are causing hardship for these
generous volunteers and if gas prices stay up, or continue to increase,
clients may have to be charged more to cover the costs - though their
resources are very limited. There are programs like this across the
country and I am sure that many volunteers, seniors and people with
disabilities are feeling the 'crunch.'
-- Kristin Duare McKinnon, M.S.W.
