Meals on Wheels Texoma is reporting a shortage of driver volunteers amid high fuel prices.
A Texoma non-profit is reporting difficulties keeping volunteers amid increasing fuel costs and high inflation. Officials with Meals on Wheels Texoma this week said that rising prices for fuel and other expenses have created a shortage of drivers who are willing to run routes and deliver food to elderly residents and those in need.
“In spite of having more than 600 volunteers who selflessly donate their time we still have multiple routes to fill every day,” Meals on Wheels Texoma CEO Greg Pittman said. “These volunteer shortages are taking a real toll on our resources. We are actively seeking anyone who can donate a little time to help others. Someone who can give us an hour, once a week – is ideal.”
On an average day, Meals on Wheels will deliver about 1,200 meals across Grayson, Fannon and Cooke Counties. In 2021, the organization delivered 327,000 meals to 2,300 individuals across the region. This service includes about 18 routes that go through Denison and serve the city’s elderly population.
“Our volunteers deliver human connection along with the meals. They are on their front porch every day visiting with every recipient for a couple of minutes and ensuring that our homebound recipients are safe and sound. Our volunteers are often the first to observe changes in someone’s physical or emotional well-being, allowing us to take additional measures which may include notifying a family member or coordinating additional services as needed,” says Pittman. “In many ways, our volunteers are like family and often they form close bonds with the people they serve.”
However, daily about six to eight of these routes in Denison alone go unclaimed and other drivers or paid staff must make up the difference and run the additional routes. Using paid staff taxes the organization’s resources while giving additional routes to volunteers risks passing on the financial burden to many who are already on a fixed income, Pitman said.
While the rising gas prices have been one of the biggest contributors, multiple factors have played into the ongoing shortage of volunteers. Many of these factors date back to or are tied to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Thursday, AAA listed the average price of gasoline in Grayson County as $3.708 per gallon.
During the pandemic, the organization stopped its congregate dining program, which cut off some of its volunteers who helped run deliveries. Meanwhile, supply shortages and supply chain issues continue to be a factor in service, Pittman said.
“We have really struggled to regain or reengage many, many volunteers subsequent to the pandemic,” he said.
Meals on Wheels was able to offset this to some degree by new volunteers who joined the organization after being told to work from home. This shift allowed some flexibility for some workers and allowed them to volunteer their time elsewhere.
However, as things have begun to return to some level of normality, these workers are returning to the workplace and traditional schedules.
“As the recovery rate increased, the rate of transmission dropped and some semblance of normalcy returned .. we’ve had several of our newest volunteers we recruited have to go away because they have to get back to work,” Pittman said.
To make up the difference in workers, Pittman said he has begun to reach out to civic groups in an effort to find new volunteers. Pittman also hopes to recruit an additional 100 volunteers within the next 30 days to help meet demand.
Meals on Wheels also recently received a donation that allowed it to pick up $25 gas cards for volunteers in need. However, Pittman said this is only a temporary solution to the problem.
“In this case, we found a donor who was willing to make a donation to offset the cost, but that’s just not sustainable for us,” she said. “We are meant and intended to be a volunteer-drive organization.”