WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Nonprofit organizations that rely on volunteer drivers to provide much-needed services to the Upper Valley’s aging population are facing a new challenge.
While the Upper Valley’s volunteer driver shortage predates the COVID-19 pandemic, it became worse in 2020. Recruitment efforts started to rebound in 2021, but then 2022 presented another challenge: Inflation.
“Now because gas prices have risen so high our volunteers are having to take money out of their own pockets to pay for gas,” said Val Wild, volunteer coordinator for Randolph-based Tri Valley Transit, which uses volunteers to transport older adults and people with disabilities to medical appointments and run errands. “Some of them are still doing that, but three of them have decided they can’t do that anymore.”
In January, the reimbursement rate rose to 58.5 cents per mile and rose again to 67.5 cents in June due to rising gas prices. It still wasn’t enough.
Now, Tri Valley is down to 14 volunteer drivers. Before the pandemic, there were 20 to 30.
“Sometimes we have clients we cannot fulfill their requirement to take them somewhere,” Wild said. “We always take our medical first and then if we have a driver available, if someone wants to go grocery shopping or something like that we will fit them in if we can.”
Tri Valley Transit has taken to area listservs to try to recruit volunteers. “CRITICAL Volunteer Need!” is the subject line of the emails.
Throughout the course of the pandemic, the Bugbee Senior Center in White River Junction has managed to maintain enough volunteers to bring home-delivered meals to older adults in Hartford, Norwich, Hartland and Thetford — even as the number of recipients continued to rise.
But in the last few months, two volunteers who do longer routes in Quechee and Norwich switched their shifts to every other week due to every week, said activity coordinator Susan Manley.
“These were directly related to the cost of gas,” she said. “That’s never been a concern raised to us. This is the first time that has been brought to our attention.”
What complicates matters is that Bugbee does not have funding to reimburse drivers for their mileage.
“Mileage is considered an in-kind donation to the center,” executive director Mark Bradley said.
The Grafton County Senior Citizens Council, which oversees eight senior centers throughout the region, raised its mileage reimbursement from 40 cents per mile to 59 cents per mile in March, executive director Kathleen Vasconcelos said.
“Mileage reimbursement is one of the expenses associated with the cost of providing Meals on Wheels, which is currently approximately $11 per meal,” she wrote in an email. “We receive $8.11 per meal in federal/state government funding through our state contract, and we have several other sources of revenue (such as grants, participant donations, philanthropic donations, local government) to help cover the costs.”
Jill Vahey, director of the Upper Valley Senior Center, said that none of the Lebanon-based nonprofit organization’s volunteer drivers request reimbursement.
“We offer it to people, but I think a lot of people just because they’re volunteering, they’re volunteering their miles as well as (their) time,” she said. At the end of June, the center found enough volunteers to deliver meals four days a week; Eight volunteers are needed each day. They are currently trying to find enough volunteers to resume five-day delivery, which was the standard before the pandemic began.
“They’re not helping for sure,” Vahey said about the impact of gas prices on volunteer recruitment efforts.
While Manley was able to find more volunteers to take over the routes, gas prices made it more difficult. The center has 52 volunteer drivers who cover five routes five days a week. They were able to provide volunteers with $600 in gas cards, but it is not a consistent or permanent solution. Manley said there has also been discussion about breaking up some of the longer mileage routes into smaller ones. While that would require more volunteers, it may help ease the gas burden.
“We try to do gas cards periodically, but that’s a drop in the bucket for how expensive gas has been,” Bradley said.
The high gas prices come as the nonprofit organization is already dealing with other blows from inflation, including higher food costs and packaging, which alone has risen 15% over last year’s expenses. Each month, more people sign up for the service and as the population continues to age Bradley expects those numbers to get even higher. So far, they have avoided having to put people on a waitlist, but there are worries that they will one day come to that.
While Bugbee receives funding for Meals on Wheels through the Older Americans Act, more staff hours have gone into fundraising to make up for the deficit.
“We’re definitely feeling a pinch,” Bradley said. “It gets kind of scary looking into the future.”
Gaylord Newcity, of Hartford, delivers meals once a week along a five-mile route in Hartford and Wilder, the shortest in the area. Since the route is so short, the price of gas hasn’t impacted him that much.
“If it gets up to $10 a gallon, I might, but it better not because I’d be in big trouble,” he said. Newcity has done that route for around nine years and delivers meals to 20 to 25 people.
Editor’s note: Those interested in volunteering for Tri Valley Transit should email Wild at vwild@trivalleytransit.org or call 802-728-3773. For those interested in volunteering at Bugbee Senior Center, email info@bugbeecenter.org or call 802-295-9068. To volunteer at the Upper Valley Senior Center, call 603-448-4213. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
